Solan: Death toll rises to 14 in building collapse

Shimla, July 15(HS): 13 people died in the collapse of a four-storey building in Himachal Pradesh’s Solan district. Police said on Monday that the building was located on the Nahan-Kumarhati road which fell after heavy rain on Sunday evening. There was also a restaurant in it.

In Himachal Pradesh, the four-storey building collapsed due to heavy rains on Sunday afternoon when 30 Junior Commissioned Officers (JCOs) of Assam Rifles, all from the nearby Dagshai cantonment, were having lunch there. Nearly 15 others, including the eatery’s staff, were also present inside the building.

Meanwhile, Solan’s district commissar, KC Chaman said most of the civilians were rescued on Sunday but the search and rescue operation will continue until the entire accident site is scanned.

“We completely rule out the possibility of any other person in debris,” he said.

Officials said, the dead soldiers have been identified as Hem Khuman, M Naubin, Vishwer Singh, Kumar Chourahi, Raj Kishore, Balwinder Singh, Vinod, Ajit Kumar, Pardeep Chand and Yogesh. The wife of the building’s owner Archana Devi was also killed in this tragic incident.

Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jairam Thakur inspected the place on Monday where the incident took place. The Chief Minister also visited the hospital where the injured were being treated.

The Chief Minister said, the rescue operation is still going on. An injured soldier told the reporters that when the building collapsed, there were 35 personnel of the army, 30 of whom were junior commissioned officers (JCOs) and five soldiers.

He told that the four Assam Regiment soldiers of the nearby Dagshai Cantonment went to a restaurant to party ‘as it was Sunday, but suddenly the building was destroyed and immediately fell.

Disaster Management Director cum Special Revenue Secretary, CD Rana told  that in the beginning, the Indian Army, the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and the police jointly launched the rescue operation. After this, two teams of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) arrived at the spot on Sunday night and got involved in the rescue operation. These two teams were from Panchkula in Haryana and Sunni from Shimla. At the same time, the third team reached from Panchkula and started rescue operations on Monday morning, Rana added.