At least 18 children were killed while six others were pulled out alive from the debris after the roof of a primary school collapsed in a hilly area on Wednesday following heavy rains in Uttarakhand’s Bageshwar district.
Around 18 children are feared trapped below the rubble and efforts were on to rescue them, Anup Nautiyal, CEO of emergency response service said on Wednesday night.
The children were in the age group of six to 10 years, he said, adding the rescued children who were injured were safe and were being treated by doctors.
Uttarakhand chief minister Ramesh Pokhariyal Nishank said the search and rescue teams have recovered the bodies of 18 children from the debris of the collapsed building in Kapkot area, about 450 km from here.
The roof of the Saraswati Shishu Mandir at Sumgad village collapsed on Wednesday morning when the children were studying, burying them under the debris, he said.
Six other children were also rescued safely with minor injuries from the debris, he added.
Nautiyal said according to reports around 50 children were inside the classes when the tragedy occured. Fortunately, several children were in the open compound area, he added.
The chief minister also announced ex-gratia of Rs 50,000 each to the families, which have lost their children.Despite bad weather, the rescue and search operation is going on. —PTI
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30 killed in Shimla road accident
Shimla, Aug. 18: At least 30 people, including 19 women, were killed and an equal number injured when a truck carrying them rolled down into a deep gorge near a village, 45 km from Mandi district of Himachal Pradesh, on Wednesday.
Around 70 people were travelling in the ill-fated truck when the accident happened near village Koti in Balh area, IGP S.R. Mardi said. The victims were returning home after attending a community feast in village Koti when the truck veered off the road and plunged into a 200-feet deep gorge. Thirty bodies had been recovered so far, the IGP said, adding another 30 were injured and were admitted to various hospitals. Rescue operations were on to trace the missing, he said. —PTI