Kumta: At least 3 children were killed instantly and as many as 7 people sustained serious injuries after a massive landslide that occured near Divgi NH66 in Kumta on 11th June, Sunday morning around 11:30 am.

The deceased have been identified as Dhanush Manjunath Ambiga (01), Yateen Narayan Ambiga (07) and Bhavya Narayan Ambiga (08). All kids were from families from Divgi.

Due to the heavy rains that have been lashing  parts of coastal Karnataka day and night,  the hilly part of the national highway collapsed and fell on the nearby houses. The huge mass of soil fell on seven houses, among which two houses were reportedly collapsed completely and other five houses received a portion of damage.

All the injured were immediately taken to Kumta govt hospital for initial treatment.

Vehicles from both sides are stranded as the road has been completely blocked due to the landslide. Immediately after the incident, the Officials arranged for earthmover machines to clear the mass of soil from the road and the work is going on. The police along with the fire brigade personnel rushed to the spot. 

The widening works for the four lanes of NH-66 are going on in the area. The soil had become loose due to rain and resulted in the landslide.

People blame IRB company for the ongoing dangerous incidents on the national highway of coastal Karnataka for it's negligence towards providing sufficient safety precautions during the construction work of highway.

The IRB company has undertaken the road widening works going on between Goa and Mangalore. It is being said that the company is  undertaking the work in a risky and non scientific way without proper precautions. As a result -people say- the region has become more prone to landslides as evident by the recent incidents. Apart from Kumta's tragedy, another landslide  near the Ottinene Ghats in Byndoor had caused the highway to be blocked till 5 hours.