Himachal Pradesh: Nine Dead After Boulder Crashes Into Tourist Vehicle; PM Modi Announces Relief

Nine tourists were killed, and three others were injured on Sunday, July 26, after boulders broke off a mountain and came rolling down in Himachal Pradesh's Kinnaur district due to a massive landslide.

Among those killed in the incident was a 27-year-old naval officer from Darri in Chhattisgarh's Korba district and his US-based friend, a 34-year-old woman Ayurveda doctor from Jaipur, and three members of a family — a young chartered accountant, his sister, and their mother — from Sikar in Rajasthan, reported The Indian Express.

The tourists were coming from Chhitkul, the last inhabited village near the border with China in Kinnaur, to Sangla when the landslide hit the Sangla-Chitkul road.

Kinnaur Superintendent of Police S R Rana said that out of the nine victims, eight were killed in the minibus that was knocked off the road and fell in a ditch, the ninth succumbed to injuries in a nearby hospital. Among those dead, there were four women and five men.

PM Announces Relief

Prime Minister Narendra Modi took to Twitter to pay his condolences to the families. He announced an ex-gratia of ₹ 2 lakh each for the next of kin of those who lost their lives in the accident. "₹ 50,000 would be given to the injured," he added.

The deceased have been identified as Maya Devi Biyani (55), her son Anurag Biyani (31) and daughter Richa Biyani (25) of Rajasthan, Pratiksha Sunil Patil (27) of Maharashtra, Deepa Sharma (34) of Jaipur, Amogh Bapat (27), Satish Katakbar (34) of Chhattisgarh, driver Umrab Singh (42) of West Bengal and Kumar Ulhas Vedpathak (37).

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