Manipur landslide: death toll increases to 56

Our Correspondent

Imphal, July 17 (EMN): The death toll in the Manipur landslide increased to 56 after one body was recovered while five others are still untraceable in the ongoing search operations, which entered the 18th day on Sunday, officials said.

The landslide, said to be the first of such magnitude in the state’s history, hit the railway construction camp at Marangching part 5 areas, about 75 west of the state capital, on the midnight of June 29. It also hit 107 Territorial Army (TA) camps of the Indian army deployed at the area for protecting the construction site.

When contacted over the phone, a senior state government official who is monitoring the situation from Noney district headquarters said, “One more body was recovered today.” The search will continue and a review meeting which was scheduled to be held on Monday has been postponed to Tuesday next.

 “Body identification has become difficult due to tissue deterioration…Finding missing bodies is also increasingly difficult as our ability to trace those decreases with time,” the official said.

According to locals, the recovered body has been identified as one Thuisinliu (27) of Marangching Part 5 village who runs a shop at the landslide hit area along with her husband Lungpuilan whose body is still untraced.

The whereabouts of five persons belonging to two families from Marangching Part 4 and 5 villages are still unknown.

So far, 56 bodies have been recovered out of 79 confirmed victims while 18 injured were rescued on the first day of the search and 5 others are still untraceable.

It may be mentioned that more than 400 personnel across multiple centre and state departments besides machinery are involved in search and rescue work at the landslide site.

Manipur has been witnessing many landslides in various parts of the state before and after the June 29 tragedy in Noney district.

On July 8, two women were killed and around seven were injured when a pick-up truck was hit by a landslide in Manipur’s Churachandpur district.

In May this year, incessant rain triggered landslides at various locations along the Imphal-jiribam highway, is considered as the second lifeline of the state, forcing the Noney district administration to close vehicular movement on the highway.

In the meantime, after conducting a survey of the landslide area by a seven member expert team, the team recommended a reassessment of slope stability (Factor of safety) analysis for open cuts and yards of the Jiribam-Tupul Railway Line.