Two school students were trapped under soil after a well collapsed due to heavy rains in Jharkhand’s Khunti district, an official said on Thursday.
The two were near the well when the incident happened at Murhu panchayat under Murhu police station limits on Wednesday.
A team of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) has been deployed in the rescue operation, Khunti Deputy Commissioner R Ronita told PTI.
The rescue operation has been on since Wednesday night but there is no trace of the trapped students till the filing of this report.
A portion of a bridge on the Banai river in Khunti’s Torpa also collapsed due to heavy rain, blocking the Khunti-Simdega road.
Ronita said a diversion was created there and the NDRF team also deployed at that spot.
Heavy rain lashed several districts including Ranchi, throwing normal life out of gear, an official said on Thursday.
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Schools in several districts including Ranchi and Khunti have been closed on Thursday in view of the heavy rains.
The NDRF officials said their teams were also put on high alert to deal with any untoward situation.
Ranchi has been witnessing incessant rains for the past two days and its intensity has increased since Thursday morning, a weather official said.
Deputy director at Ranchi Meteorological Centre Abhishek Anand said a red alert of extremely heavy rainfall has been sounded for Ranchi, Lohardaga, Gumla, Khunti and Simdega as a low pressure system is laying over northeast Jharkhand.
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“A well marked low pressure area over Gangetic West Bengal and neighbourhood moved slowly towards northwest and lay over northeast Jharkhand and adjoining Gangetic West Bengal at 5.30 am today. It is likely to continue to move northwestwards during the next 24 hours,” he said.