Toll in Leh cloudbursts rises to 132

Twenty bodies were today pulled out from slush and debris in Leh town ravaged by flash floods, raising the toll to 132, even as rescuers intensified operations in the high altitude terrain to search for 600 missing people.

Six Indian Air Force aircraft carrying relief material, rescue workers and doctors landed here today to provide succour to the people of the region affected by Thursday night’s cloudbursts and freak rains.

“We have recovered 132 bodies so far and at least 370 are injured. The number of missing is being ascertained,” State Police Chief Kuldeep Khoda said, adding the toll may go up.

Sources fear that the death toll could cross over 500 as several remote villages were yet to be accessed by rescue teams. Thousands were left homeless.

A small village before Choglumsur, which bore the brunt of the incessant rains, was completely wiped out as rescue workers were looking for survivors in the mud slush and debris.