Rain aborts search, 9 still missing

SHANKHUWASABHA: The search for nine people, who have been missing following the Monday’s landslide in Sikding village of Sankhuwasabha’s Tamku VDC-9, has been stopped from today.

Of the 13 missing, rescuers managed to extract four bodies from the debris. “As six days have passed since the natural disaster occurred, we cancelled the search with the possibility of finding them faded away,” said DSP Poshraj Pokharel. Those involved in the search mission could not go to the exact location of landslide due to recurrent rainfall.

The missing include Panchakubir Rai (30), his wife Laxmi, their three children including six-year-old son Harkaraj, of Tamku VDC-9. Likewise, the other missing villagers in the landslide are Jasamati Rai (22), Menuka Rai (9), Danalal Rai (14) and Puspalal Rai (12) of the same village. According to Anil Shrestha of Khandbari based Nepali Army’s Amardal Battalion, the teams of police and army were now returning to the district headquarters as the landslips were still continuing along with the rain, which put the lives of the rescuers at risk.

Family members of altogether 39 houses in the adjacent areas have been shifted to safer areas in Majhkharka due to landslide fear. They are living in tents. Saroj Kumar Bajracharya, district president, Red Cross, said

additional tents and other relief items were sent

to the village from Khandbari today. The landslides have occurred in 50

places in Sikdim village alone, thanks to the

continuous rainfall.