Five of family killed in house collapse due to landslide in Himachal’s Kullu

Head of family survives as he was sleeping in the verandah, while the rest of the members, including two children, were buried in the debris in remote Sharmani village.

Five members of a family were killed when a house collapsed following a landslide in the remote Sharmani village under Ghatu panchayat in the Nirmand sub division of Kullu district of Himachal Pradesh early on Tuesday, police said.

National Disaster Response Force members carrying out rescue work at the landslide-hit Sharmani village in Nirmand sub division of Kullu district on Tuesday. (Aqil Khan/HT)

Eight members of the family were buried in the debris of whom five died and three were rescued by villagers, the police said. All three survivors are hospitalised in Nirmand, sub divisional magistrate Manmohan Singh said.

According to the police, the families of brothers Dharam Das and Shiv Ram lived in the same house. Though Shiv Ram survived, his wife Tripta Devi, son Chunni Lal, daughter-in-law Anjana Kumari, grandson Bhopesh, 5, and granddaughter Jagriti, 7, died in the house collapse.

Dharam Das and his wife Kala Devi were hospitalised with injuries. Their son was not at home when the landslide occurred after heavy rain around 1.30am on Tuesday night, said gram panchayat pradhan Bhoga Ram.

Eyewitnesses said Shiv Ram was sleeping in the veranda when the incident took place.