Guwahati: Union home minister Amit Shah has spoken to Manipur chief minister N Biren Singh and Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw in view of the massive landslide near Tupul railway station in Manipur which has already claimed at least seven lives as of Thursday.
At least seven persons were killed and 13 others injured, some of them critically while around 23 remained missing after a massive landslide struck near a railway construction camp in Manipur’s Noney district.
Shah informed that rescue operations were in full swing. “A team of NDRF has already reached the spot and joined the rescue operations. 2 more teams are on their way to Tupul,” he said.
The CM of Manipur has summoned an emergency meeting to review the landslide’s status and has directed that rescue efforts be expedited.
At least 19 persons had been found as of 12:00 noon. The injured people were receiving care at the Noney Army Medical facility. The critically injured victim was being evacuated. However, the rescue efforts have been hampered by terrible weather and recent landslides.
The critically injured were also being airlifted by Army helicopters. The rescue effort is actively underway as we speak.
The flow of the Ijei river that was blocked due to debris of the landslide creating a dam like storage was opened by railways at the request of the state government using the available machineries.
“This will prevent any unfortunate incident that could arise from river water accumulation. Due to various traffic blockages, district authorities in the Noney district have previously warned the general public against using NH-37. The district authorities have already released helpline numbers, as per Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) authorities.