Uttarkashi cloudburst: 20 people missing in Arakot, search ops underway

Twenty people are missing in the Sanel village of Mori block in Uttarkashi district on Wednesday, following an incident of cloudburst and heavy rainfall in the area.

The State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) has rescued 10 injured people who have been admitted to the Doon hospital in Dehradun.

"Reports of people missing have been coming in. Till now 15 bodies have been recovered. If anyone gets any information about it, they are requested to inform Mori police about the same," said the District Disaster Management officer, Devendra Patwal.

The relief material has been sent to the flood-ravaged Arakot village in the Mori block of Uttarkashi on two Indian Air Force helicopters from Jolly Grant Airport in Dehradun as well.

The material included food, water, medicine and other relief material from the Sahastradhara helipad in Dehradun.

The SDRF teams are conducting search operations in the Tikochi, Arakot and other places in the district.

A cloudburst had hit Mori Tehsil in Uttarkashi district on Sunday, prompting the state government to dispatch teams of Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) to carry out rescue and evacuation operations.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted widespread rainfall over the next few days in Uttarkashi.

The search operation is still underway.