At around 1.25 pm, on Sunday, July 25, 34-year-old Deepa Sharma from Jaipur tweeted a photograph of herself at the Nagasti post in Himachal Pradesh. She wrote, “Standing at the last point of India where civilians are allowed. Beyond this point, around 80 km ahead, we have border with Tibet whom China has occupied illegally.”
At 1.25 pm, the same day, nine tourists were killed after heavy boulders fell on their tempo traveler in a landslide near Bastderi on the Sangla-Chitkul road in Himachal Pradesh’s Kinnaur district.
Deepa’s tweet went viral with netizens pouring condolences. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh for each victim’s family and Rs 50,000 in aid for those injured.
Deepa Sharma was an Ayurveda practitioner, a clinical nutritionist, and a writer. She was once a contestant in the Amitabh Bachchan hosted quiz show Kaun Banega Crorepati.
Advertisement
Multiple landslides triggered by recent rains struck Basteri on Sangla-Chitkul road which led to the collapse of a bridge, which has been captured in a dramatic video. In the video, boulders could be seen rolling downhill, causing the bridge to collapse.
The deceased have been identified as Maya Devi Biyani (55), her son Anurag Biyani (31) and daughter Richa Biyani (25) of Rajasthan, Pratiksha Sunil Patil (27) of Maharashtra, Deepa Sharma (34) of Jaipur, Amogh Bapat (27), Satish Katakbar (34) of Chhattisgarh, driver Umrab Singh (42) of West Bengal and Kumar Ulhas Vedpathak (37).
