Heavy rains claim seven lives in Chamoli

DEHRADUN: Heavy rains continued to wreak havoc in Uttarakhand where seven persons of a family were killed when the ceiling of their house collapsed in Chamoli district today, while four persons were killed when a machine engaged in repairing a road fell into a ditch in Garhwal.

The house collapse incident occurred at about 3.30 AM in Dhikauna village when debris from the hillside including rocks and boulders where the house was located hit it under the impact of heavy overnight rains, Chamoli ADM Sanjay Kumar told PTI over phone.

The dead included two women and three children. Five bodies have been recovered and efforts are on to extricate the remaining two which are still trapped in the debris, he said.

Senior officials including Chamoli District Magistrate S A Murugesan have reached the spot to supervise rescue operations, he said.

In another incident, four persons were killed and another injured when a JCB (earth moving machine) slipped into a ditch while repairing a road at Dwarikhal Development Block in Garhwal.

SDM Lansdowne P.L.Shah said the JCB was involved in debris removal in Ghandalu village when the incident took place on Monday evening.

Four persons, including the operator of the JCB, died on the spot while one person was injured and hospitalised.