Fresh landslide kills woman in Manipur, June 30 toll rises to 49

Imphal, July 8 (IANS) A woman was killed and 10 others injured in a landslide in Manipur's Churachandpur district on Friday while some body parts were recovered on Friday, the ninth day after the devastating landslide at a railway construction site in Noney district, where 49 bodies have been unearthed so far, officials said.

A Churachandpur district official said that a 49-year-old woman was killed and 10 others, including five women, were seriously injured when a passenger vehicle with 12 persons on board came under the landslide.

The incident took place at the Tipaimukh road along the National Highway-150 between Santing and Saihuan village, around 80 km from the district headquarters.

The injured were shifted to the hospital.

Meanwhile, Noney district officials said that 12 people, including Territorial Army soldiers, are still missing after the catastrophic June 30 landslides at Tupul.

As many as 49 bodies, including 32 Territorial Army soldiers and remaining of local people and railway workers, were recovered and search operations were underway despite inclement weather to locate the missing.

Officials also said that infrequent rock falls along the National Highway-37 between Tupul and Noney district headquarters (near Namduanjang) has been occurring during the past four days, posing danger to life and properties for those vehicles plying along the NH-37.

"Due to the uncertain road conditions, the NH-37 between Tupul and Namduanjang villages was closed by the Deputy Commissioner for all vehicles, except those carrying emergency supplies," a district official said.

Defence and district officials said that despite fresh landslides and continuous hostile weather conditions, the intensive search operations by the Indian Army, the Assam Rifles, the Territorial Army, and the National and State Disaster Response Forces continued at the incident site at Tupul.

Efforts to search for the remaining missing Territorial Army personnel and civilians would continue till the last individual is found, a defence spokesman said.

The Territorial Army soldiers were deployed at Tupul for security to the railway works, part of the Rs 14,320 crore broad gauge Jiribam-Imphal railway project, being executed by the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR), to connect the Manipur capital on the rail network by 2024.