Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Aug 15: The death toll in Thursday’s cloudburst that struck the Mata Machail yatra route in Chashoti village in Kishtwar district in Jammu and Kashmir, has gone up to 65 with at least 200 more people are still missing causing apprehension that the toll might go further up before all the bodies are counted.
The Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said on Friday that the rescue operations are underway, and efforts are being made to extricate people stuck or buried under debris. He said the Air Force was on standby for relief and rescue operations, but the cloudy weather was hindering the air operations. Mr Abdullah has left for Kishtwar after hoisting the national flag in Srinagar to celebrate the 79th Independence Day and will travel on Saturday morning to Chashoti, the village struck by the cloudburst. “I’ll be leaving for Kishtwar later this afternoon and will be going to the scene of the cloudburst tragedy early tomorrow morning to see, first hand, the extent of damage. I will review the rescue operation & assess what further help is required,” the Chief Minister’s office posted on X.
J&K’s Minister for Agricultural Production and Rural Development, Javid Ahmad Dar on Friday confirmed that 65 bodies have been recovered but added that many are still missing.
“There is no definite number of the missing people so far, but the number of deaths is going up,” an official said. “One of the witnesses said there were around 200 people near the langar when it was swept away.”
They said that the biggest challenge right now was to trace the bodies, as some have been buried under the mounds of debris. “Some bodies have been swept away many kilometres down the stream,” he said. “It will take many days to retrieve all the bodies.”
Jammu and Kashmir National Conference Chief and former chief minister Farooq Abdullah believes over 500 people continue to be trapped. “I believe more than 500 people are still trapped under the debris in Kishtwar, and some officials are saying the number may exceed 1,000. It is a moment of deep sadness,” Mr Abdullah said.
In his first Independence Day speech in Srinagar after taking over as the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir in October last year, Mr Abdullah’s son, Omar, started his address by expressing his condolences to the families who lost their loved ones in the Kishtwar cloudburst. “I would also like to pray for those who have been injured that they get well as soon as possible,” he said, assuring the affected people of all possible assistance.
He said it needs to be ascertained if there was any lapse on the administration’s part, as “we already knew about the weather (forecast).” “Could we have taken more steps from the government and the administration to save these precious lives? We have to make ourselves accountable on this account,” he said.
Earlier, Mr Abdullah said he received a call from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on which he briefed the PM about the situation and the steps being taken by the administration. “My government and the people hit by this tragic cloudburst are grateful for his support and all the assistance provided by the Union Government,” Mr Abdullah wrote in a post on X.
A large-scale rescue operation is underway by the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), police, Army and local volunteers. Officials said the inclement weather and rough terrain have been posing difficulties in relief and rescue operations. The Indian Air Force, which is waiting for things to improve, has kept choppers on standby at its Udhampur base.
The massive cloudburst struck the Chashoti village of Padder in Kishtwar on Thursday, at a time when pilgrims were on the annual Shri Mata Machail yatra. A large number of pilgrims were swept by the flash floods and many homes were damaged.