Two die, two missing in Bhuvan hills landslides

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

SILCHAR, Aug 31: It was a disaster triggered by torrential rains in Bhuvan Hills, 45 km from here, around 2 am today under Kachudaram police station of Dholai constituency. According to reports from the spot of tragic incident, incessant downpours causing heavy landslips and erosion of boulders, the dwelling house of Dipkher Longer at Khasia punji near Pani Chouki was badly hit and it crumbled down. Under the debris mother Lumila Lamurang (45), her daughters Worlis Lamurang (22) who was pregnt, Anisa Lamurang (3) and son Diwer Lamurang (5) were virtually crushed. Eyewitness accounts said the gushing waters from a hilly rivulet close to the Pani Chouki Khasia punji aggravated the tragedy.

 All of them were virtually washed away with the swirling waters of the rivulet. After being informed, NDRF and SDRF teams from this town rushed to the spot and immediately took up rescue and relief operation early in the morning. After more than an hour search in and around the mounds of earth and the debris, none of the victims could be traced or located. The dead bodies of mother Lumila Lamurang and her daughter Worlis Lamurang were located 3 km away floating in the waters of Soi river in which the rivulet from the Bhuvan Hills disgorges itself.

 Most tragic, the body of Lumila Lamurang was stuck up against a tree for some time and then washed away in the river. The lifeless body of her daughter Worlis was also found not far away from her. The joint search team of NDRF and SDRF assisted by the personnel of Kachudaram police station, contining opertatin till the filing of this report but has not been able to trace out Anisa Lamurang and her brother Diwer Lamurang. According to NDRF, the brother and sister could also have been washed away to Soi river and a close watch is kept by the by the police team from Soi police station along its bank.

The head of the family Dipkher Longer was away to a relative house in the Pani Chouki and the husband of Worlis, Tiyous Shadare, was also away and that saved them from the imminent death and disaster. The rescue efforts were seriously hampered as the passage from the foothills to Pani Chouki was blocked by the landslips. JCB has been pressed into service to clear the blockade. The bodies of mother and daughter were taken to Silchar Medical College and Hospital for postmortem. After that they would be taken to their origil house at a punji in Hailakandi district. The family of Dipkher Longer settled down at Pani Chouki 4 years ago after coming down from Hailakandi punji.

 The swirling and gushing waters that rolled down from the hills led to the flooding of several dwelling houses in the foothills and the nearby Motigar. A cow was also washed away to Soi river. In all 500 houses, both pucca and kucha, came under water. Hrishikes Deb, an elderly person of Motigar, said in his living memory he has not seen such a tural disaster in which rain waters, boulders and mounds of earth came rolling down the hills.