Shimla: Amid continuous spells of heavy rains in Himachal Pradesh, several houses including a slaughterhouse collapsed after a fresh landslide hit Shimla on Tuesday. At least two people have died in the incident.
The incident happened after a hill collapsed in the Krishna Nagar area in Shimla. There were around five to eight houses that collapsed.
The houses were vacated as cracks had surfaced there. As the houses crashed, they fell on a slaughter-house, where some people were reportedly working.
Several nearby houses have been vacated as a preventive measure, said an official, adding that the people have been moved to safer places.
Uprooting of a large tree caused a landslip leading to the collapse of a cluster of houses with deafening noise, officials said.
Two bodies trapped under the rubble of the houses have been recovered, Shimla SP Sanjeev Kumar Gandhi said.
Cracks had developed in some houses in the area in the morning following which most of the residents vacated them, the officials said.
Videos of people in nearby houses screaming and telling the inmates to leave immediately were circulated on social media. Heart-wrenching scenes of people calling for help and running for safety were witnessed at the site.
Atma Ram, an employee of the slaughterhouse, had said that his manager was feared trapped under the debris.
"When the slaughterhouse was being constructed, there were slides and some houses were vacated. Even after construction of retaining walls, there was seepage and the problem persisted," Amit, an eyewitness said.
He said that at least 15 families have been rendered homeless after the incident.
Himachal Pradesh CM Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu reached the Krishna Nagar area and inspected the landslide site.
In view of the red alert due to rains, the state government has ordered all schools to remain closed on Wednesday.
On Monday, two landslides took place in Shimla, one at a Shiva temple in Summer Hill and the other at Fagli, which claimed 17 lives.
Nearly 60 people dead in Himachal's rain havoc so far
At least 60 people have died as rains wreaked havoc in Himachal Pradesh, triggering landslides that blocked key roads, damaged homes and buried devotees in the rubble of a temple.
Fourteen bodies were recovered from the sites of two landslides in the state capital, and officials feared there could be more people trapped under the debris of the Shiva temple in Summer Hill area.
The shrine was crowded with devotees, offering prayers on an important day of the holy month of Sawan.
Nineteen people died in rain-related incidents in Mandi district, Deputy Commissioner Arindam Chaudhary told PTI.
With inputs from PTI
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