Punjab rains: Vande Bharat, Shatabdi, other trains cancelled; 2 siblings among three killed under landslide

Vande Bharat and Jan-Shatabdi had been cancelled since Sunday. The Railways also cancelled all toy trains, rail coach running on Kalka-Shimla track for the next couple of days.

2 siblings among three killed under landslide

Two siblings and their relative were Monday killed under a landslide at Shiv Lotia Mandir at Pinjore in Panchkula.

The victims were identified as Akash, 19, Karthik, 7, and Priyanka, 5, who lived near the temple. Karthika and Priyanka were siblings. Akash was their distant relative.

Police said two of the victims — Akash and Karthik — were already dead when they were taken to Kalka Civil Hospital. Priyanka was breathing when she was rescued but declared dead at the hospital. “I had just taken a nap and was about to prepare some tea and the next thing I knew, we were buried,” said the deceased’s mother Maltia. The family resides in a slum area near the temple. A postmortem examination was performed on the three bodies and the cause of death is yet to be ascertained.

ACP (Kalka) Ram Kumar said, “Landslide took place and the debris fell on the temporary shanty of the victims. SDM (Kalka) and police personnel from Pinjore police station rushed to the spot. Inquest proceedings have been initiated.”

After wreaking havoc, intensity of showers likely to reduce

In a respite to Chandigarh residents, the intensity of the monsoon rain will reduce, despite the continual of showers in the coming days following the withdrawal of the western disturbance, weather department said on Monday.

The forecast did not rule out the possibility of a fresh western disturbance, but said that the current one – which hit the region on July 8 – is withdrawing. “Rains will continue, but their intensity will reduce. We have been monitoring the moments related to the western disturbances, which came unexpectedly. Heavy downpour from the last 48 hours was the result of a western disturbance which got mixed with the monsoon,” AK Singh, officiating director, Meteorological department, Chandigarh said.

Earlier in the day, a red alert was issued keeping in view of heavy downpour, later, though, it was revised to an orange alert. A yellow alert was given for Tuesday.

While, the maximum temperature on Monday was 25.8 degree Celsius, the minimum recorded mercury was 23.6 degree Celsius.

Meanwhile, the city has received 206.1 mm rainfall in the last 24 hours. In the last ten days, the city has received a total of 596 mm rainfall which is two times higher than the normal rainfall – 273 mm.

The weather department also forecast a rise in the mercury from 28 degree Celsius to 31 degree Celsius. It predicted cloudy sky with rains and likely development of thunders. On Sunday, Chandigarh saw 302.2 mm rainfall, which is an all-time high for the 24-hour period.