Munish Sood
Rajgarh
Tragedy struck Rajgarh in Himachal Pradesh’s Sirmaur district on Wednesday when a three-storey house suddenly collapsed, burying a woman and her pregnant daughter under the debris. Both d*ied in the incident, while two young children sustained injuries.
The incident occurred around Wednesday afternoon at Chhichhadiadhar village under Didag panchayat, where the house belonging to Bhim Singh suddenly came crashing down. Preliminary reports suggest that ground subsidence, possibly triggered by recent heavy rainfall, may have caused the structure to collapse within moments.
At the time of the incident, Bhim Singh’s wife Nirmala (60), his married daughter Pooja (32), who had come to her parental home and was reportedly pregnant, and two girls, both around one-and-a-half years old, were inside the house. They were trapped beneath the rubble.
Local residents, particularly a group of young people, immediately rushed to the spot after hearing the sound of the collapse. Without waiting for specialised rescue teams, they began removing the debris and succeeded in pulling the trapped family members out. The injured were rushed to the Civil Hospital at Rajgarh.
Doctors at the hospital declared Nirmala, wife of Bhim Singh, and Pooja, wife of Amit Rana, dead.
One of the injured children, Ira, was reported to be in critical condition and was referred to a hospital in Solan for specialised treatment. The other child, Abiyana, is being treated at the Civil Hospital in Rajgarh.
The tragedy could have claimed more lives, as Pooja’s mother-in-law and another woman from the household had stepped outside only a short while before the house collapsed. Bhim Singh and his son were also away from the house at the time.
The incident has come amid a spell of heavy rainfall across Himachal Pradesh, raising concerns over ground instability and the vulnerability of structures in the state’s hilly terrain.
Second Major Tragedy in Sirmaur
Wednesday’s house collapse is the second major tragedy in Sirmaur in a short span. Earlier, in the Shri Renuka Ji area, a vehicle plunged into a deep gorge during the night, leaving four people dead and nine others injured.
The back-to-back incidents have added to concerns over the risks posed by heavy rain, landslides and unstable terrain across the district.
