Death toll from landslide in northern India rises to 23

By Ahmad Adil

NEW DELHI (AA) - The death toll from a massive landslide in India's northern state of Himachal Pradesh on Wednesday has reached 23, a senior official said on Saturday.

The incident took place on the Reckong Peo-Shimla Highway in the Kinnaur district, around 210 kilometers (130 miles) from the state capital Shimla on Wednesday. A bus carrying passengers and a few other vehicles were buried under the debris.

Since then, a rescue operation has been underway in the area.

Indo-Tibetan Border Force (ITBP) spokesman Vivek Kumar Pandey told Anadolu Agency that six bodies have been retrieved on Saturday from the debris. "The total number of bodies retrieved so far is 23," he said.

On Friday night, Pandey had said that stones falling at "steep gradients are making the search operations difficult and risky."

In another incident last month, nine tourists were killed after huge boulders fell on their vehicles in Kinnaur.