By Cosmos Sangma
Tura, Oct 7:The death toll in floods and landslides in Garo Hills has risen to 17 with reports of two and three persons being killed in the disaster in North Garo Hills and East Garo Hills districts respectively.
In East Garo Hills, a person was killed when a tree got uprooted and fell on his car during a storm in Songsak reserve forest area late Saturday night.
Thenseng R Marak and two other woman occupants were on their way to Rongjeng from Dalu in West Garo Hills. Their vehicle (ML08 J 1279, Renault Kiger) was caught in the severe storm while passing through Rongre near Sub Forest Bear House on NH 127B.
Thenseng, who hailed from Thibapara area of Dalu, was killed on the spot his by sisters Sengrikchi D Sangma (29) and Clarinda D Sangma (27), both were seriously injured in the incident.
They were initially provided basic medical treatment at Songsak PHC and later taken to Williamangar hospital.
In another incident, a woman and her daughter asleep in their house were buried alive by a mudslide at Gongdop, Rongjeng in the district. “The incident happened during the wee hours of the morning when tons of mud from a hill behind their house came down and covered their house. Their bodies have been recovered and send for medical examination,” informed East Garo Hills SP A S Rynjah.
These are the first cases of casualty from the monsoon fury in the East Garo Hills district.
A family of 7 were buried alive in a mudslide in Hatisia Songmong village of Gasuapara, two women and a child were killed in landslides in Dalu, and a father and son duo remain missing after their vehicle was swept away by the Bugai river in Dimapara.
Meanwhile, two children tragically lost their lives after falling into a pit filled with rain water in the village of Bete Apal- Bangsi Apal in North Garo Hills on Saturday.
The two children, identified as Silarin R Marak (8) and Tangme R Marak (40, were reportedly playing outside their house when they slipped into a pit that had been constructed for a toilet.
