The body of the second fatality in Friday’s Rngain landslide was pulled out of the rubble by personnel of the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) on Sunday.
The landslide struck at around 7pm on Friday along a stretch of the Shillong-Pynursla road where boulders were being excavated.
Nine people in a vehicle were lightly injured and taken to Pynursla primary health centre for treatment. However, another vehicle carrying two people had been caught by the full force of the landslide and had been carried down a steep gorge.
The body of one of those occupants, Seiborlang Jaktung, who had been driving the car, was recovered on Saturday afternoon by the SDRF with the help of local villagers. It was then handed over to police.
In a press release today, the SDRF said that the second body, of Krejunlang Khongjirem, was found on Sunday and the recovery operation has thus concluded.
Road widening work on this stretch is part of the larger Shillong-Dawki four-lane project. On an inspection of the site of the incident, Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong said that an FIR will be filed and he blamed the National Highways Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd for not adequately overseeing the work.
