Excavator operator killed in landslide on Kailash Mansarovar route

Pithoragarh: An excavator operator died after he was buried under a massive boulder and debris during road-widening work on the Kailash Mansarovar route in Pithoragarh district on Wednesday, officials said.Manish Chaufal (32), a resident of Nachani village in Munsyari tehsil, was operating an excavator at Mangti when a portion of rock suddenly cracked, triggering a landslide that buried both the machine and the operator.District disaster mitigation officer Bhupendra Singh Mahar said the incident took place on the 78-km Tawaghat–Lipulekh road, around 35 km from Tawaghat, where debris clearance work was underway.Local villagers and co-workers informed Dharchula police station about the accident. Teams from the police, SDRF and the revenue department rushed to the spot and initiated a rescue operation."The rescue operation continued for nearly six hours, after which the body was recovered," Mahar said.The body was sent to a hospital in Dharchula for postmortem.The landslide blocked the road, leaving dozens of vehicles stranded and causing inconvenience to commuters. Several commuters, including residents of Gala, Jipti, and Kuti villages, were forced to wait for hours until the route was cleared.The Tawaghat–Lipulekh road connects Kailash Mansarovar and Adi Kailash.