A major landslide triggered by heavy rain damaged the Chowari-Bharari road in Chamba district on Saturday morning. A passing vehicle was caught in the landslide debris though its occupants narrowly escaped a fatal accident. The landslide occurred around 8 am as a large volume of rocks and debris suddenly came crashing down from the hillside onto the road. The impact was so severe that a significant portion of the road collapsed into the adjoining gorge, leaving the vehicle stranded in the debris.

The incident brought traffic on the route to a complete halt, resulting in long queues of vehicles on both sides and causing major inconvenience to commuters, particularly those travelling for urgent work. On receiving information about the incident, the Public Works Department (PWD) rushed teams to the site and deployed two JCB machines for the rescue and restoration work. After several hours of effort, the trapped vehicle was safely recovered from the debris by the afternoon.

Meanwhile, the PWD launched the road restoration work on a war footing though the operation was hampered due to continuously falling debris from unstable hills. PWD Executive Engineer Narender Chaudhary said that a section of the Chowari-Bharari road was extensively damaged due to the landslide and the department immediately deployed personnel and heavy machinery to the site, successfully rescuing the trapped vehicle. The department was working to restore traffic at the earliest despite challenging conditions.

The authorities concerned have advised motorists to exercise caution while travelling in the region as heavy rainfall continues to trigger landslides and road disruptions in various parts of Himachal Pradesh.

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