Transportation resumed along the Mungling-Narayangadh road stretch on Thursday afternoon, after a disruption that lasted 13 hours.

A massive landslide triggered by heavy overnight rains had blocked the road stretch at Chandibhanjyang—about 4km from Mungling Bazaar—in Chitwan district since Wednesday night. According to the District Traffic Police Office, around 8,000 vehicles ply the road section that links the major cities in the south with Kathmandu.

Hundreds of vehicles were stranded on either side of the landslide, leaving thousands of passengers in hardship.

The landslide struck at around 10pm. The security personnel rushed to the incident site and attempted to clear the debris but to no avail.

The transportation has resumed along the section but the area is still facing landslide risks, Superintendent of Police Basanta Kunwar said. “Employees of Road Division Office and security personnel have been deployed in the area. The landslides often occur as it continues to rain,” said Kunwar.

There have been frequent landslides in that section since the initiation of the road expansion project along the Mungling-Narayangadh stretch. “We have to drill rock while widening the road which makes the land weak, triggering landslides,” said Chandra Narayan Yadav, chief of the road expansion project.