Eighteen dead after bus hit by landslide in Himachal Pradesh, India.

Eighteen people have died and several more have been injured after a landslide hit a bus in the Bilaspur District of Himachal Pradesh, India, on Tuesday 7 October 2025. The incident happened at about 6.30 pm local time, with a large section of the side of a hill giving way following days of heavy rain, and sweeping the bus, which held between 30 and 35 people at the time, from the road. Landslides are a common problem after severe weather, as excess pore water pressure can overcome cohesion in soil and sediments, allowing them to flow like liquids. Approximately 90% of all landslides are caused by heavy rainfall.

Rescue workers searching for survivors after a landslide swept a bus from a road in Himachal Pradesh State, India, on Tuesday 7 October 2025. National Disaster Response Force/Associated Press.

Mountainous areas of Himachal Pradesh (which is most of the state) are notoriously prone to landslides, particularly during the monsoon season, which typically lasts from July to September, when very high rainfall levels can trigger many such events. Years such as this year, in which the monsoon lasts longer, are particularly dangerous, as the ground will have become waterlogged, and unable to absorb any more rain, leading to an increased risk of landslide and flood events. Sadly, while late rains were once a rare event, they are becoming more common as a result of global warming, which is resulting in a hotter, wetter climate in the region.

Monsoons are tropical sea breezes triggered by heating of the land during the warmer part of the year (summer). Both the land and sea are warmed by the Sun, but the land has a lower ability to absorb heat, radiating it back so that the air above landmasses becomes significantly warmer than that over the sea, causing the air above the land to rise and drawing in water from over the sea; since this has also been warmed it carries a high evaporated water content, and brings with it heavy rainfall.

In the tropical dry season, the situation is reversed, as the air over the land cools more rapidly with the seasons, leading to warmer air over the sea, and thus breezes moving from the shore to the sea (where air is rising more rapidly) and a drying of the climate. This situation is particularly intense in South Asia, due to the presence of the Himalayas. High mountain ranges tend to force winds hitting them upwards, which amplifies the South Asian Summer Monsoon, with higher winds leading to more upward air movement, thus drawing in further air from the sea.

Diagrammatic representation of wind and rainfall patterns in a tropical monsoon climate. Geosciences/University of Arizona.

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Zygosporium himachalensis: A fossil Ascomycote Fungus from the Miocene of Himachal Pradesh, India.

The genus Zygosporium contains asexual, largely saprotrophic, Ascomycete Fungi distinguished by dark brown setiform conidiophores (bristle-shaped spore producing bodies) with darkly pigmented, incurved, and swollen vesicles, often stacked, emerging either from the side of the conidiophore or from the mycelium (network of fungal threads).There are 22 described living species within the group, as well as three known fossil species, two from the Siwalik sediments of the eastern Himalayas, and one from the Oligocene of Hungary.

In a paper published in the journal Fungal Biology on 12 March 2023, Sampa Kundu and Mahasin Ali Khan of the Palaeobotany and Palynology Laboratory at the Department of Botany at Sidho-Kanho-Birsha University, describe a new species of Zygosporium from the Late Miocene Middle Siwalik of Himachal Pradesh, in the western Himalayas.

The new species is named Zygosporium himachalensis, where 'himachalensis' means 'from Himachal'. It is based upon a series of specimens found growing on a compressed Monocot leaf recovered from a grey mudstone in the Middle Siwalik in Mandi District of Himachal Pradesh. This location is about 8-10 km from, and probably coeval with Nalad Khad Section, which has been dated to 12-8 million years before the present.

(A) A compressed Monocot leaf segment; (B) Light microscopic image of Zygosporium himachalensis (SKBUH/PPL/HP/M40/S2) showing superficial or partly immersed hyphae with vesicular conidiophores in small or large groups or scattered on fossil Monocot leaf cuticle (SKBUH/PPL/HP/M40); (C), (D), (E), (G). Zygosporium himachalensis showing stacked chained vesicular cells on straight erect unbranched conidiophores; vesicular cells arising from apical, sub-apical, and lateral sides of the conidiophores (vesicular cells marked by blue arrows); (F) Zygosporium himachalensis showing stacked chained vesicular cells on a branched conidiophore (branching point marked by a black arrow; vesicular cells marked by blue arrows). Kundu & Khan (2024).

Specimens of Zygosporium himachalensis have erect, usually unbranched conidiophores, with chains of up to 4 integrated alternatively or suboppositely arranged vesicles arising directly from the mycelium. These are arranged in effuse or sometimes compact irregular-shaped patches on the surface of the leaf.

(A)–(L) Light microscopic images of Zygosporium himachalensis showing septate superficial conidiophore (marked by white arrows) with alternately (marked by blue arrows) and sub-oppositely (marked by green arrow) arranged dark brown to black, swollen, incurved, thick-walled vesicular cells (marked by red arrows); some vesicular cells with a cylindrical, brown, thick-walled, smooth, short stalk cell (marked by black arrows). Kunda & Khan (2024).

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Landslides and building collapses have killed at least 227 people in Himachal Pradesh so far this monsoon season.

At least 227 people have died, and another 38 are still reported missing, in a series of landslides, building collapses, and other rainfall-related events in Himanchal Pradesh State, India, so far this monsoon season on 24 June 2023. At least 1200 houses, and numerous businesses and civic buildings, have been destroyed or severely damaged by the rains. More than one hundred people were killed in July, with and at least fifty on 14-15 August. One of the worst incidents happened on Monday 14 August, when the Shiv Bawadi Hindu Temple in the Summer Hill area of Shimla was hit by a landslide, killing at least twelve people, including seven members of the same family. Another five people were killed in a separate landslide in the Phagli district of Shimla on the same day. The following day another two landslides destroyed four houses and an abattoir in the Lalpani area of Shimla.

The Shiv Bawadi Hindu Temple in the Summer Hill area of Shimla, before and after the 14 August 2023 landslide. Press Trust of India.

Monsoons are tropical sea breezes triggered by heating of the land during the warmer part of the year (summer). Both the land and sea are warmed by the Sun, but the land has a lower ability to absorb heat, radiating it back so that the air above landmasses becomes significantly warmer than that over the sea, causing the air above the land to rise and drawing in water from over the sea; since this has also been warmed it carries a high evaporated water content, and brings with it heavy rainfall. In the tropical dry season, the situation is reversed, as the air over the land cools more rapidly with the seasons, leading to warmer air over the sea, and thus breezes moving from the shore to the sea (where air is rising more rapidly) and a drying of the climate.

Diagrammatic representation of wind and rainfall patterns in a tropical monsoon climate. Geosciences/University of Arizona.

This years rains have been unusually heavy across South and Southeast Asia, despite there being an El Niño system over the South Pacific, which would usually bring drier conditions. This is probably linked to the rising global temperature, with the record for the Earth's highest average temperature over a 24 hour period being broken three times in July, which has led to higher rates of evaporation from all oceans, leading to unusually high rainfall in many parts of the world.

This situation is particularly intense in South Asia, due to the presence of the Himalayas. High mountain ranges tend to force winds hitting them upwards, which amplifies the South Asian Summer Monsoon, with higher winds leading to more upward air movement, thus drawing in further air from the sea. Himachal Pradesh has been hit particularly hard this year, with record levels of rains recorded in many areas, as well as glaciers melting at faster rates due to global warming, with the effect that many rivers were swollen even before the monsoon rains began to fall.

However, high rainfall is not the only cause of the situation in Shimla, which lies in the Naina Devi foothills of the Shivalik Mountains (which lie along the border between India and Nepal, and are separated from the main Himalaya Mountains by the central Khatmandu Valley of Nepal), and much of it is built on slopes of between 45° and 75°, with more than half of the city on slopes of more than 60°. In the early twentieth century Shimla had a population of about 25 000, but this has now grown to about 300 000, with a major construction boom in the area to support the expanded population. Much of this new construction has been without any attention to the underlying geology, resulting in many four and five story buildings siting on steep slopes of poorly consolidated sediments, making the city and its population exceptionally vulnerable to landslide. 

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Flooding and landslides kill at least twenty two people in northern India.

At least twenty two people have lost their lives in a series of flooding and landslide events across northern India, where this year's monsoon has brought 59% more rainfall so far this year than would be expected at by this date on an average year.

Six people have died in four separate incidents in Himachal Pradesh; three members of the same family died in when their house collapsed after being hit by a landslide. Two other people died in landslides in Kullu and Chamba districts. Also in Shimla, a young girl is reported to have died when a raft of debris caried by floodwaters struck her home; an elderly lady is reportedly still trapped beneath the debris of the building, with rescuers attempting to reach her. The state recorded 14 major landslides and 13 flash floods on Friday 7 and Saturday 8 July 2023. There are also reports of shops being swept away in the resort town of Manali, and of cars being washed away in several districts. Over 700 roads in Himachal Pradesh are currently closed, with flooding and landslips sweeping away many roads connecting remote communities to the outside world, and all schools and colleges will be closed on Monday and Tuesday as a precaution. The city of Solan recorded 135 mm of rain on Sunday 9 July, the highest ever rainfall recorded, breaking a previous record of 105 mm set in 1971. 

The Beas River in Kullu District, Himachal Pradesh, on Sunday 9 July 2023. Press Trust of India.

In Uttarakhand three people are known to have died and three are still missing after a landslide swept their jeep into the swollen Ganga River, while they were undertaking a pilgrimage. Five other people who were in the vehicle have been rescued. In another incident in the same state, a house collapse in Kashipur is reported to have killed two people and injured their granddaughter.

In Jammu and Kashmir two people are reported to have died when a landslide hit the bus they were travelling in in Doda District. Elsewhere in the state, a man was killed when his car was struck by a falling boulder in Ladakh, and two soldiers are reported to have drowned while attempting to cross a river in Poonch District.

Part of the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway in Jammu and Kashmir swept away by a landslide. Press Trust of India.

In Haryana State a man is reported to have drowned in Gurugram District, while another man, reportedly his cousin, is still missing. 

In Uttar Pradesh, a 10-year-old girl is reported to have died when a tree fell onto the shack she was living in in Kaushambi District, while in Muzaffarnagar District a woman and her six-year-old daughter died when the roof of their home collapsed under the weight of water that had pooled there. In the city of Ballia two people died and three more were injured after being struck by lightning in separate incidents. 

Monsoons are tropical sea breezes triggered by heating of the land during the warmer part of the year (summer). Both the land and sea are warmed by the Sun, but the land has a lower ability to absorb heat, radiating it back so that the air above landmasses becomes significantly warmer than that over the sea, causing the air above the land to rise and drawing in water from over the sea; since this has also been warmed it carries a high evaporated water content, and brings with it heavy rainfall. In the tropical dry season, the situation is reversed, as the air over the land cools more rapidly with the seasons, leading to warmer air over the sea, and thus breezes moving from the shore to the sea (where air is rising more rapidly) and a drying of the climate. This situation is particularly intense in South Asia, due to the presence of the Himalayas. High mountain ranges tend to force winds hitting them upwards, which amplifies the South Asian Summer Monsoon, with higher winds leading to more upward air movement, thus drawing in further air from the sea.

Diagrammatic representation of wind and rainfall patterns in a tropical monsoon climate. Geosciences/University of Arizona.

While the monsoon always brings problems to India, this year's monsoon has produced an uneven distribution of rain, with the north of the country receiving 59% more rain than would usually be expected, while in the south, between 23% and 45% less rain than usual has fallen. This year an El Niño weather system has been developing over the South Pacific, something which usually tends to supress the Indian monsoon, something which may be happening in the south of the country, but northern India, Pakistan, and Nepal have all been suffering deadly floods, something which may be related to the rising global atmospheric temperatures.

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Fourteen people now confirmed dead following landslide in Himachal Pradesh.

Fourteen people have now been confirmed dead, and another sixteen are still missing, following a landslide in Himachal Pradesh State, India, on Wednesday 11 August 2021. The event happened on National Highway Five, close to the village of Nigulsari in Kinnaur District at about 12.30 pm, and resulted in a number of vehicles, including a crowded bus, being hit by large boulders and swept into a gorge below the road, through which the Sutlej River runs. There is thought to be little hope of finding any further survivors, with vehicles buried beneath a pile of rocks and debris 3-5 m deep and 15-30 m wide.

 

The remains of a bus which was hit by a landslide in Himachal Pradesh, India, on 11 August 2021. VV Krishnan/Firstpost.

 

Mountainous areas of Himachal Pradesh (which is most of the state) are notoriously prone to landslides, particularly during the monsoon season, which lasts from July to September, when very high rainfall levels can trigger many such events. Landslides are a common problem after severe weather, as excess pore water pressure can overcome cohesion in soil and sediments, allowing them to flow like liquids. Approximately 90% of all landslides are caused by heavy rainfall.

 

The section of National Highway Five that was hit by a landslide in Kinnaur District, Himachal Pradesh, on 11 August 2021. CNN.

 Monsoons are tropical sea breezes triggered by heating of the land during the warmer part of the year (summer). Both the land and sea are warmed by the Sun, but the land has a lower ability to absorb heat, radiating it back so that the air above landmasses becomes significantly warmer than that over the sea, causing the air above the land to rise and drawing in water from over the sea; since this has also been warmed it carries a high evaporated water content, and brings with it heavy rainfall. In the tropical dry season the situation is reversed, as the air over the land cools more rapidly with the seasons, leading to warmer air over the sea, and thus breezes moving from the shore to the sea (where air is rising more rapidly) and a drying of the climate. This situation is particularly intense in South Asia, due to the presence of the Himalayas. High mountain ranges tend to force winds hitting them upwards, which amplifies the South Asian Summer Monsoon, with higher winds leading to more upward air movement, thus drawing in further air from the sea. 

Diagrammatic representation of wind and rainfall patterns in a tropical monsoon climate. Geosciences/University of Arizona.

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Rockfall kills eight-month-old girl in Himachal Pradesh.

An eight-month-old girl has died and seven other people, including two other children, have been injured after a group of tourists was hit by a rockfall in Kangra District in Himachal Pradesh, India, on Saturday 20 July 2019. All of those involved are believed to have come from two families from Haroli in Una District, also Himachal Pradesh, who were walking on a trail between Bhagsu Nag Temple and the Bhagsu Nag Waterfall at the time of the incident. The landslide is the latest in a series of events connected to heavy rains in the area, brought on by the onset of the Indian Summer Monsoon. Mountainous areas of Himachal Pradesh (which is most of the state) are notoriously prone to landslips and rockfalls, particularly during the monsoon season, which lasts from July to September, when very high rainfall levels can trigger many such events. Landslides are a common problem after severe weather, as excess pore water pressure can overcome cohesion in soil and sediments, allowing them to flow like liquids. Approximately 90% of all landslides are caused by heavy rainfall.

The scene of the 20 July 2019 Bhagsu Nag rockfall. Kamaljeet/The Tribune.

Monsoons are tropical sea breezes triggered by heating of the land during the warmer part of the year (summer). Both the land and sea are warmed by the Sun, but the land has a lower ability to absorb heat, radiating it back so that the air above landmasses becomes significantly warmer than that over the sea, causing the air above the land to rise and drawing in water from over the sea; since this has also been warmed it carries a high evaporated water content, and brings with it heavy rainfall. In the tropical dry season the situation is reversed, as the air over the land cools more rapidly with the seasons, leading to warmer air over the sea, and thus breezes moving from the shore to the sea (where air is rising more rapidly) and a drying of the climate. This situation is particularly intense in South Asia, due to the presence of the Himalayas. High mountain ranges tend to force winds hitting them upwards, which amplifies the South Asian Summer Monsoon, with higher winds leading to more upward air movement, thus drawing in further air from the sea. 

 Diagrammatic representation of wind and rainfall patterns in a tropical monsoon climate. Geosciences/University of Arizona.

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