Bilaspur landslide: Four of a family cremated

Bilaspur/Shimla, Oct 8 (PTI) A pall of gloom descended Fagog village in Bilapsur as eight-year-old Shorya lit the pyre of four family members, including his mother's, on Wednesday.

Four people of a family, including two children, were killed when the private bus they were travelling in was buried in a landslide near Bhalughat on Tuesday.

A total of 16 people were killed in the incident that took place in the evening, when a huge portion of a mountain gave way and fell on the moving bus. A search operation was launched, which resumed on Wednesday morning.

A large number of people gathered for the funeral, when pyres of Anjana Devi (29), her sons Naksh (7) and Aarav (4), and sister-in-law Kamlesh (36) were lit near the accident site.

The cremation of all the four deceased was held together after their bodies were handed over to the family after post-mortem.

Kamlesh's son Shorya and his elder sister Arushi (10) were rescued with injuries. They were sent home on Wednesday morning after treatment at AIIMS Bilaspur.

According to relatives, the family had gone to attend a function at Anjana's parental home in Gangloh village. The tragedy struck when they were on their way back home.

Anjana's family members said they had offered to drop them in a private vehicle, but she insisted on going by the private bus. Had she agreed, they would have been alive now, said a teary-eyed relative.

Anjana's husband Vipin Kumar is employed in the Army.

Naksh was a Class 3 student at Alfa Senior Secondary School, while his younger brother Aarav was studying in Upper KG in the same school. PTI COR BPL RUK RUK