Eight of the deceased were from the same family

SYAGNJA, Sept 24: The death toll in Syanja landslide climbed to nine on Thursday afternoon.

Eight of the nine dead are from a single family. The incident took place at 5AM on Thursday morning when a house belonging to a local, Maya Nepali, was buried in the rain-triggered landslide.

“Almost all those killed in the landslide are from the same family,” ward member of Waling-14, Gam Prasad Luitel, told Republica over the phone. The incident site lies between local Gayadanda and Luiteldanda areas.

The deceased have been identified as Seni Nepali, 60, Maya Nepali, 48, Deepak Nepali, 34, Kuldip Nepali, 28, Bikram Nepali, 15, Biwish Nepali, 9, Binita Nepali, 21, and six-year-old boy Sameer Nepali. Uma Nepali, a guest in the house, was also killed in the incident.  

An 18-year-old girl Manisha Nepali who was rescued alive has been brought to Pokhara for further treatment.

“We have not been able to carry out a search and rescue operation smoothly as it was a massive landslide,” Ward Member Luitel said.

The bodies which were buried in the landslide were recovered some five hours after the incident.

Local villagers failed to rescue those buried in the landslide as the massive landslide prevented them from entering the house, Luitel said.

“We reached there after hearing their cries for help from inside their house. But, the continued landslide restricted all of us from going inside, and taking them out safely from their house. As a result, they were trapped and buried inside their house,” he said, while regretting for not being able to rescue them on time.  

None of the family members could come out of their homes after the landslide started hitting at their house even as they were awake in the wee hours of Thursday morning, the ward member said.

 
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