Poonch: A truck driver died while his truck and at least half a dozen other shops, located in Seklu at Mandi tehsil headquarter of Poonch district, were damaged after a landslide hit the area due to heavy rainfall on Sunday.
Officials told Greater Kashmir that a landslide triggered by heavy rain hit Seklu market area at Mandi tehsil headquarter late this afternoon. The debris of the slide fell on shops and a truck parked there.
“Although shopkeepers and some customers present inside at the time of incident had a narrow escape but the truck driver, who was sitting inside the vehicle, got trapped in it,” the officials said, adding that the truck and at least six shops were damaged due to the landslide.
“A massive rescue operation was launched soon after the incident. The teams of army, police, BSF and civilians moved to the area and removed debris from the truck to rescue the truck driver,” officials said.
They added that after hectic efforts, the truck driver was rescued and taken to sub district hospital Mandi in critical condition but he succumbed to his injuries during treatment.
The deceased was identified as Muhammad Tariq, 35, son of Said Akbar,resident of Marnote Mandi.
Police said to have registered an incident report in the matter in the local police station.
Meanwhile, twin border districts of Rajouri and Poonch received moderate to heavy rainfall for the second consecutive day on Sunday while a white blanket of snow covered the mountain ridges in the upper reaches.
As per reports available with Greater Kashmir, the rainfall that started on Saturday morning continued till late evening. There was a slight improvement in weather on Sunday morning when the rain stopped however cloudy conditions persisted.
In the afternoon, rain started again. Most of the areas in the sub-region had received moderate to heavy rainfall by evening and it still continued in some areas.
The rainfall for the second consecutive day on Sunday affected normal life badly with a thin moment of vehicles on roads as the people preferred to stay indoors.
As rain lashed the majority of areas in the twin districts, the upper reaches of mountain ridges received fresh snowfall.
“It rarely happens that snowfall takes place in the upper reaches of Rajouri and Poonch in June but this has happened this time,” Hiteshwar Sharma of Rajouri said.
He added that snowfall occurred even in areas of Poshana, Pir Ki Gali on Mughal road while almost all the mountain ridges of Rajouri and Poonch were covered under the blanket of snow.
Deputy SP Surankote, Tanveer Jeelani told Greater Kashmir that vehicular traffic on Mughal Road was going on smoothly and the department was keeping a close eye on the situation.
(With inputs from Sumit Bhargav in Rajouri)