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Our Correspondent
Imphal, July 4 (EMN): The death toll of the June 29 landslide at a railway construction site in Manipur’s Noney district rose to 47 after five more bodies were recovered from the debris on Monday evening, 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 km west of the state capital, on the midnight of June 29. It also hit 107 Territorial Army (TA) camps deployed for protection of the construction site.
A senior state government official monitoring the situation said on Monday evening that the search teams recovered five more bodies on the fifth day of the rescue operations.
Officials said that it may take a few more days to complete the search operation as landslide area covers about 1 km stretch.
So far, 47 dead bodies, including 28 Territorial Army personnel, had been recovered, and 18 injured persons rescued and referred to hospitals for treatment. At least 14 people, including two Territorial Army personnel are still said to be missing.
Meanwhile, Manipur Water Resource and Relief & Disaster Management Minister Awangbow Newmai, who has been supervising the situation from the ground zero of the landslide affected areas, stated that the rescue operation will continue with the concerted efforts of all stakeholders till all the victims are found.
He also appealed to the people of the state not to visit the site and instructed the security to focus on the site where the victims are expected to be buried.
While reaching out to the victims’ family at Marangching and assuring all possible assistance from the government, he also expressed gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah for their concern and providing assistance by sending NDRF personnel and required manpower.
Meanwhile, the mortal remains of five Territorial Army personnel, including a Lt Colonel were sent to their respective home states by IAF aircraft on Monday morning. They were paid full military honours by GOC Red Shield Division and IG IGAR (South) at Imphal airport, Army sources said.
On Sunday, the Noney district Deputy Commissioner Haulianlal Guite issued an order barring vehicles carrying relief materials from going beyond a certain point to avoid pile-up of vehicles and visitors at the ground zero of the landslide and to ensure smooth and efficient operation of vehicles pressed into action for search and rescue operation.
The order was issued after another landslide was reported in the Marangching area on Saturday. However, no casualties were reported from that incident.