ITANAGAR, July 2 - The death toll in yesterday�s killer landslide in Bhalukpong in Arunachal Pradesh�s West Kameng district has risen to 10 with the recovery of five more bodies this morning.
The deceased included three children, four women and three men.
The bodies retrieved from the debris today were identified to be of nine-month-old Angel Lenua, Niky Boro (10), Juala Chetry (10), Pinky Boro (40) and Miali Chetry (40).
Bodies recovered yesterday by rescue workers were identified as Leel Bahadur Chetry (57), Dilip Gwala (15), Hiren Barman (54), his wife Durga Barman (45) and their daughter Rina Barman (24).
The tragic incident occurred yesterday at around 12 noon when a massive landslide triggered by torrential rain hit the residential area at Upper Bhalukpong killing ten people besides completely damaging nine houses and four other partially.
Besides the police and locals, Army, BRO, ITBP and NDRF personnel with the help of district administration carried out the search and rescue operation. The rescue operation had to be halted yesterday due to inclement weather. The operation was resumed early this morning leading to recovery of the five bodies.
Chief Minister Kalikho Pul besides announcing ex-gratia payments for the landslide victims has informed that an additional fund of Rs 1 crore will be placed under the DC, Bomdila for carrying out relief and restoration activities.
According to reports, the torrential rain that triggered landslides on a road near Tippi has caused substantial damage to school buildings, circuit house and storehouses of government departments such as PHE, PWD, WRD and RWD, besides inundating the local police station there.
Meanwhile, all the four injured persons in the landslide � Deb Bahadur, Santosh Thapa, Pankaj Chetry and Mohan Barman, who were rushed to the Community Health Centre at Bhalukpong, were today referred to Tezpur in Assam for better treatment.
PTI adds: Five officials of Intelligence Bureau (IB) are reported missing after landslide and torrential rains which hit Bhalukpong in Arunachal Pradesh yesterday.
Officials said the incident was reported around Friday noon after a IB hut in the area was hit by a landlside.
A team of 30 Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) force personnel have reached the affected area and are looking for the missing officials, they said.
This is the second major landslide in Arunachal Pradesh this year. On April 22, 15 labourers and a supervisor were killed after a landslide buried their camp near a private hotel construction site at Phamla in Tawang district bordering China.
