Nine people died and 12 others sustained injuries in a massive landslide at Timure in Gosaikunda Rural Municipality-2 of Rasuwa district on Wednesday night. Five critically injured people were taken to Kathmandu for treatment.

The landslide triggered by heavy rains buried two huts, a hotel and a temporary police beat at Timure along the Syaphrubeshi-Rasuwagadhi road section. There were no police personnel at the beat when the incident happened. Two containers and a truck were also hit by falling rocks.

The site is about 25 km north of Dhunche, the district headquarters, and about 1.5 km south of the Nepal-China border. Police identified the deceased as Shyam Shrestha, Bikram Shrestha, Mangale Tamang, Resham Khadka of Bhotekoshi Rural Muni-cipality in Sindhupalchok district, Mingmar Gumbu Tamang of Gosaikunda-1, Dorje Wanchuk Ghale and his wife Karsang Kimu Ghale of Gosaikunda-1, Ramesh Tamang of Shivapuri Rural Municipality-8 in Nuwakot and Sharmila Kami of Bidur Municipality-3 of Nuwakot. Five of the deceased were drivers staying at the hotel while Sharmila was a hotel worker. Three other locals also died in the disaster.

The mudslide started above the settlement. Urgen Ghale, a local, told the Post that he had heard a loud bang around midnight. According to him, all the villagers gathered on the Rasuwagadhi Customs Office premises. The local youths started rescue work 20 minutes after the incident, he added.

Personnel from the Nepal Army, Nepal Police and the Armed Police Force had reached the incident site immediately to rescue the victims. They saved 12 people from the debris and provided first aid.

Rescuers pulled the bodies out of the debris on Thursday by using two excavators and a loader.

Meanwhile, Chief District Officer Krishna Poudel said the local administration would provide Rs100,000 for the family of each deceased and Rs10,000 for each victim whose house was destroyed in the landslide.