Himachal: 10 people, including five forest department officials, trapped in Mandi dam

Ten people, including five officials of the forest department, were trapped at the Kol Dam Hydel Project in Himachal Pradesh’s Mandi district due to a rise in water level on Sunday, officials said.

“The situation is not life threatening and the trapped people would be rescued soon,” Mandi Deputy Commissioner Arindam Chaudhary said. “The rescue operation has been started by the NDRF in coordination with the local administration and residents,” Chaudhary said on Sunday night. The locals informed the administration after which a team of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) was rushed to the spot. The officials said five of those stuck at the site are employees of the forest department — Bhadur Singh, Bhupesh Thakur, Roop singh, Babu Ram and Angad Kumar — while the other five are local people who were identified as Nain Singh, Dagu Ram, Hem Raj, Bhudhi Singh and Dharmendra. The rescue operation is being carried out with the help of a steamer, the officials said. With inputs from agencies