‘Had to come out alive’: Himachal woman survives 5 hours under landslide debris | India News

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KULLU: Call it a miracle in Mandi. Finding herself buried in a landslide at Sharan village in Seraj valley of Himachal’s Mandi district, a 20-year-old woman clawed out a respiration nook for herself and stored digging along with her naked fingers for 5 hours till she was discovered and rescued.Every second, the mound of mud, stones and debris pressed down on Tuneja Thakur. Every second, she clawed again. Even as she gasped for air, Tuneja realised she could be useless in seconds if she did not struggle again. “I removed enough mud to be able to breathe,” she stated.Outside, her household and villagers desperately looked for her for 5 hours. Inside the crushing lure, it appeared like a lifetime. “I just knew one thing – I had to come out alive,” she stated. Eventually, Tuneja was pulled out by her dad and mom.Amid the demise and destruction wreaked by flash floods in Mandi , Tuneja’s battle for survival stands out for sheer tenacity in one of many villages worst affected by the June 30-July 1 cloudburst. The flash flood struck at round 11.30pm on June 30.“Everybody ran out. It was pouring and floodwater was entering houses. People were screaming in panic. I stepped out looking for a safe place when a land mass suddenly slid down and fell on me just around the corner of my house,” stated Tuneja.Himachal deputy CM Mukesh Agnihotri and chief of opposition Jai Ram Thakur met her final week and praised her death-defying braveness.