3 bodies retrieved in Hatiasia Songma landslide

Tura, Oct 6: The tragedy in Garo Hills region continues to get worse with 5 more confirmed dead on Sunday, taking the overall tally of casualties to 15 people.

The five causalities include a father – son duo whose car was swept away by strong currents on Friday evening in Dimapara while attempting to cross a flooded road; a mother-daughter duo fell victim to a landslide while they were asleep in their house on the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday; and a man died when a tree fell on his car on Saturday night.

In the first instance, the father and son duo, identified as Bijoy S Sangma (44 years), a teacher by profession, and his 13-year-old son Wian Chigado R Marak, were returning from school on Friday evening when they encountered a flooded road below the Dimapara bridge due to a swelled-up Bugai River. According to officials and villagers, the duo was advised against crossing the flooded, since the road wasn’t visible and there was strong current. However, the teacher braved the danger and tried to cross the road, but his car, a Wagon R bearing registration no. WB 06 7718, was carried away by the flood waters after few meters.

While the car was retrieved by SDRF on Saturday, the bodies of the duo was retrieved by the rescue teams on Sunday morning from the low-lying area of Sonagre village of Dimapara in Dalu. Both were residents Rongkhon Songgital, Tura.

Casualties in East Garo Hills

In the other incident, a mother and daughter were killed by a landslide in the middle of the night on the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday while they were deep in their sleep in Gongdop village under Rongjeng police station in East Garo Hills district. The victims, identified as Amerin K Marak and her daughter Manase K Marak, were asleep when heavy rains triggered a landslide on the hill behind their house, burying their house with tonnes of soil.

Their bodies were recovered by the SDRF and villagers on Sunday morning.

In the third incident, a man, identified as Thenseng R. Marak, was killed late on Saturday night when a tree uprooted during a storm fell on his car, Renault Kiger with registration no. ML08 J 1279, in the Songsak reserve forest area, East Garo Hills. The incident occurred on national highway 127B near Rongre as Marak, along with two women relatives, was driving from Dalu to Rongjeng.

Marak, a resident of Thibapara in Dalu, died on the spot, while the two women, Sengrikchi D. Sangma (29) and Clarinda D. Sangma (27), both sisters, suffered serious injuries. They received initial treatment at Songsak PHC before being transferred to Williamnagar hospital.

3 bodies retrieved from Hatiasia Songma landslide

Meanwhile, after two days of efforts, the SDRF and NDRF teams manged to pull out the bodies of three of the seven family members buried in the landslide at Hatiasia Songma in South Garo Hills district on Sunday afternoon. The bodies were retrieved around 1:30 pm on Sunday.

The family of seven was inside their house, which falls under the Gasuapara Block, when a section of the hill behind their house came crashing down on the house on Friday, leaving them no chance to escape. The entire house got buried in the tonnes of soil from the hill.

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