Himachal Landslide: Child’s Body Recovered, Death Toll Climbs to Sixteen

A devastating landslide in Himachal Pradesh’s Bilaspur district has claimed 16 lives, with the grim tally rising after the body of an unidentified child was pulled from the wreckage of a private bus buried under a collapsing mountainside. The catastrophe struck at 6:40 pm Tuesday in the Bhalughat area near Berthin, when torrential rains triggered a massive cascade of rocks, mud, and debris that engulfed the moving vehicle, turning a routine journey from Marotan to Ghumarwin into a scene of unimaginable tragedy.

The bus, carrying an estimated 30-35 passengers, was obliterated in seconds as the rain-soaked mountain gave way. Among the confirmed deceased are Naksh, Aarav, Sanjeev, Vimla, Kamlesh, Kanta Devi, Anjana, Bakshi Ram, Narender Sharma, Krishan Lal, Chuni Lal, Rajnish, Sonu, Sharif Khan, and Praveen Kumar. The latest victim, a child found Wednesday morning, remains unidentified, deepening the anguish of a community grappling with loss.

The disaster tore apart families, including one where four members – the wives of two brothers and two of their children – perished while returning from a family function. “My wife, my two children, and my brother’s wife and their two children were on that bus. Only my kids survived,” sobbed Raj Kumar, father of Arushi and Shaurya, who were miraculously rescued and treated at AIIMS Bilaspur before being sent home.

Rescue operations, halted overnight due to darkness and fresh mudslides, resumed with fierce determination at dawn. Teams from the National Disaster Response Force, alongside local police, home guards, firefighters, and villagers, are waging a desperate battle against the debris. Heavy machinery rumbles to dislodge massive boulders, while sniffer dogs scour the site for any sign of life. The operation is a race against time, with fears that up to three more passengers could still be trapped. “We’re digging with everything we’ve got – hands, machines, dogs,” said one rescuer, exhaustion etched on his face as helicopters circled above for aerial support.

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The landslide was fueled by days of relentless rain, which destabilized the region’s fragile slopes. Himachal’s young, geologically volatile mountains, coupled with aggressive road and infrastructure projects, have turned the state into a hotspot for such disasters. Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri, who visited the site Tuesday night to meet grieving families, announced a magisterial inquiry to probe the incident’s causes. “The heavy downpour loosened the mountain, and we need to question if our development model is sustainable,” he said, noting that Himachal has suffered Rs 20,000 crore in losses from natural calamities since 2023. Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu ordered accelerated rescue efforts and pledged Rs 4 lakh per deceased family, supplementing a Rs 2 lakh ex-gratia from the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund for kin and Rs 50,000 for the injured.

National leaders expressed profound grief. President Droupadi Murmu called the loss “heartbreaking,” while Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Ministers Amit Shah and J.P. Nadda, and Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra offered condolences and urged robust relief measures. The tragedy has sparked a broader debate about climate change, with experts warning that intensifying monsoons are overwhelming Himachal’s delicate ecosystem. As rescuers press on, the Bilaspur landslide stands as a chilling reminder of nature’s power and the urgent need for safer development in India’s Himalayan heartland. Will more lives be saved, or will the mountains claim more? The answer lies buried in the debris.

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