5 dead as heavy rains lash Uttarakhand; Watch videos

Five people, including three labourers from Nepal, were killed and two others were injured in rain-related incidents in Uttarakhand on Monday.

State authorities have advised Chardham pilgrims not to proceed to the Himalayan temples till the weather improves.

The labourers were staying in a tent at Samkhal near Lansdowne in Pauri district when rubble flowing down from a field above due to the rains buried them alive, District Magistrate Vijay Kumar Jogdande said, adding that the injured were admitted to the Kotdwar base hospital.

In Selkhola in Champawat district, two people were killed when their house collapsed, following a landslide, the State Emergency Operation Centre said.

Passenger vehicles are not being allowed to cross the Chandrabhaga bridge, Tapovan, Lakshman Jhoola and Muni-ki-Reti Bhadrakali barriers in Rishikesh.

Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami visited the state disaster control room at the secretariat in Dehradun to take weather updates and know the conditions of roads and highways.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday spoke to Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami to take stock of the situation in the state which has been hit hard by incessant rains.

Modi also spoke to Union minister Ajay Bhatt, who hails from the state, in this regard, official sources said.

Images and videos circulated on social media show frightening scenes.