Shimla temple collapse: 7 of family spanning across three generations killed in tragic incident in Himachal

Shimla, August 16: A family lost members spanning three generations in the mishap in which a temple in the Summer Hill area of rain-battered Shimla district was washed away following a landslide triggered by Monday’s cloudburst.

According to officials, seven members of the family, including three children, were inside the Shiv temple when it collapsed. The deceased were identified as Pawan Sharma, his wife Santosh, son Aman, daughter-in-law Archna and three granddaughters.

According to the State Disaster Response Force, the bodies of five of the family members have been found, while two others remain missing.

Sunita Sharma, a distressed relative said, "I have just one request, find them and bring them to us. We will accept them dead or alive. We have been waiting for three days." 

Sunedhi, sister of one of the missing persons, said, "We don't know what God did to us."

Vinod, the brother of one of the missing persons said, "The administration should make such areas safe, have some kind of system in place to ensure that the water recedes immediately."

A neighbour Mehar Singh H Verma said, "We performed the last rites of four of the members on Tuesday. They lost their three generations."

According to officials, a total of 13 bodies have been retrieved so far from the Summer Hill area in Shimla.

Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on Wednesday conducted an aerial survey of Fatehpur and Indora in Kangra district to assess the extent of the calamity's impact.

The death toll in rain-related incidents in the state has mounted to over 60. The CM said the state had suffered a loss of around Rs 10,000 crore.

Earlier in the day, CM Sukhu said over 800 persons had been evacuated from low-lying areas of Kangra near Pong Dam in the Beas river as their villages became inaccessible due to the elevated water level in the dam reservoir.

Five to seven houses collapsed in Lalpani in the Krishna Nagar area of Shimla on Tuesday afternoon following a landslide. Chief Minister Sukhu said residents of the houses were evacuated earlier on Tuesday morning by the administration fearing landslides. According to information by District Disaster Management Authority, Shimla, seven buildings collapsed in the landslide and approximately 20 people were present at the incident site at that time, out of which 18 persons escaped safely and two  were trapped under the debris.