By Devjyot Ghoshal and Alasdair Pal
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Two people have died and at least 12 were injured after a landslide in the mountainous Indian state of Himachal Pradesh on Wednesday saw boulders tumbling onto a highway, hitting several vehicles, Indian officials said.
At least 25 people are still trapped, Abid Hussain Sadiq, a government official in the Kinnaur district where the incident happened, told Reuters.
“We are in the middle of rescue operations,” he said. “We expect the rescue operations to continue through the night, if not longer.”
Around 200 troops have been dispatched to aid in the rescue attempt, said Vivek Pandey, a spokesman for the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), an Indian paramilitary unit responsible for border security in the region.
“The area is currently very dangerous,” Pandey told news agency ANI.
The landslide happened at 1245 local time, the ITBP wrote on Twitter.
The ITBP posted photos showing rocks and mud surrounding the wreckage of several vehicles, including a public bus and a truck.
(Reporting by Devjyot Ghoshal and Alasdair Pal; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)
