Landslides block Jomsom-Koral road, stranding China trade containers

The road linking Jomsom with the Koral pass in Mustang has been cut by landslides after days of steady rain, according to the District Police Office Mustang. Slides came down at three points on the national highway to the pass. The first was at Kalobhir, above Chaili village in Baragung Muktikshetra. A second hit the Kagbeni-Tangwe road, and a third struck the Selfiedanda road at Ghami, Lho-Ghekar Damodarkunda-2, in Upper Mustang. Police Inspector Santosh Basnyal said the Ghami slide had been cleared, but traffic still could not pass Kalobhir in Chaili or the Kagbeni-Tangwe stretch. A team from the Kagbeni Police Post has set off for the Kagbeni-Tangwe site. Basnyal said the closure has hampered imports and exports with China, with containers stuck at the blocked points both on their way to the Koral pass and on the return trip. Elsewhere in the district, the Kagbeni-Muktinath road in Baragung Muktikshetra-1 was also blocked by a slide, but ward chair Pramesh Gurung said a dozer had been used to reopen it. Further south, the Beni-Jomsom section was also affected. Tejasi Sharma, who heads the Beni-Jomsom-Koral road project, said slides closed that section in about half a dozen places on Friday night. She said Bagar Kholsa in Ghasa was being blocked repeatedly, stones kept falling onto the road at Kabhrebhir, and slides had come down above the road at Siruwari, Tatopani, Rupaise and Pokharebagar in Myagdi. Because of the closures, hundreds of electric vehicles brought in from China cannot leave Jomsom. Citing the risk of disasters, the District Administration Office Mustang has asked that vehicles not be operated during the daytime.