The Jammu-Srinagar national highway was closed for vehicular traffic due to a landslide in Ramban district on Wednesday, sources said.
The road was blocked by a landslide at Duggi pull near Chanderkote in Ramban, they added. Due to this, many heavy motor vehicles (HMVs) and light motor vehicles (LMVs) are stranded at different points on the highway, the sources said. They said men and machinery have been deployed to clear the area of the debris.
Things took a dangerous turn when one person died and another was injured when a truck rolled down into a gorge near Tulbagh at Banihal in Ramban Wednesday night, officials said.
Meanwhile, the Jammu-Srinagar national highway was cleared for stranded vehicles on Monday as road clearance agencies pulled out a rice-loaded truck that was stuck in mud near Panthiyal in Ramban district for nearly 30 hours, officials said.
Senior Superintendent of Police, traffic, Shabir Ahmad Malik said 130 heavy motor vehicles and 10 oil tankers besides dozens of light motor vehicles, which were stranded on the highway, were allowed to move towards their destination after completion of the road clearance operation at Panthiyal, where the carriageway is single.
The traffic on the highway, the only all-weather road linking Kashmir with rest of the country, was suspended on Sunday following multiple landslides and shooting of stones from hillocks between Chanderkote and Ramsu and snowfall in Banihal sector.
While the road clearance agencies pressed its men and machines and cleared the highway of the obstacles, a truck loaded with rice got deeply embedded in the mud at Panthiyal and could not be moved.
The operation was called off late Sunday evening and was resumed this morning with fire and emergency service joining the effort which proved fruitful and the truck was pulled out around 1 pm, the officials said, adding the normal traffic is likely to resume Tuesday.
