Himachal Pradesh: Two killed, three injured as boulders hit two trucks in Mandi

SHIMLA: Two truck drivers were killed and three others sustained injuries when heavy boulders fell on their vehicles along

Chandigarh-Manali National Highway

near

Hanogi Mata temple

in Mandi district on Friday morning. This is the fourth such incident at the same spot in the last few years.


Mandi district has witnessed heavy rainfall overnight that triggered rockslide in Hanogi area disrupting the vehicular movement along the national highway.

According to Mandi SP Gurdev Chand Sharma, the incident occurred at around 5.15am when boulders fell on the trucks. He said the driver of a truck (PB-11BW-6192) was crushed to death after a big boulder hit the truck when it was heading towards Mandi side.

He said that driver was still under the boulder and efforts were on to retrieve his body.

Another truck (HP-23B-6517) heading towards Kullu from Mandi was also hit by boulders resulting into the on the spot death of driver Gurmukh Singh of Samarkhurd village of Bangana tehsil of Una district.

The SP said those sitting inside the truck were injured and taken to Community Health Centre Nagwain for treatment.

"Boulders which fell on the vehicles are being removed. A police team is present at the spot. Tehsildar, Aut, Ramesh Rana and members of temple committee are also present at the spot," he further added.

Earlier, on August 10, 2017, heavy rockslide damaged some shops and structures near Hanogi temple while on August 6, 2017, three persons were injured after boulders hit a car near Hanogi temple. A similar incident on July 16, 2017, had damaged property at the same place.

This is a dangerous stretch of the Chandigarh-Manali highway and thousands of vehicles stop at the temple to seek blessing for their safe journey.