Kiratpur-Manali Highway blocked due to major landslide

SHIMLA: The Kiratpur-Manali National Highway was today blocked due to a massive landslide near Hanogi in Mandi district of Himachal, about 180 Km from here.

The vehicular traffic on the road came to a halt and hundreds of vehicles were stranded on either side of the blockades.

The district administration diverted the traffic via Bajaura-Kotla road.

"Huge boulders suddenly started rolling down and within minutes the entire hill-lock came down sliding but fortunately no vehicle was crossing the road at that point of time and as such there was no loss of human life," said state Public Works Department (PWD)officials.

The cause of landslide could not be ascertained as there were neither rains nor any hill cutting activity on the road and a technical team is visiting the spot to know the exact cause of the landslide.

The landslide covered an area of 150 mts length of the road and huge mound of earth and rocks fell in river Beas, Superintending Engineer, Nag said.

Four JCB and heavy earth moving machineries have been deployed to clear the blockade but normal traffic was unlikely to be resumed today.

"We may be able to clear the roads for light vehicles by the evening but it may cause risk as boulders are still rolling down", he added.