19 students still missing in Himachal, CM reviews search

Rescue workers from the NDRF and army personnel Tuesday carried out a search operation to locate 19 students of an engineering college in Hyderabad and a tour operator who went missing after the strong current of the Beas river here washed them away.

Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, who held a high-level meeting in state capital Shimla to monitor the search and rescue operation, issued directions to follow safety norms like blowing of hooters while discharging water from the dams.

"We have traced five bodies in the past two days," Jaideep Singh, commanding officer of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), told IANS.

He said a team of 84 people, comprising 10 underwater divers, carried out the search operation in the river from Thalaut near Hanogi Mata temple, the accident spot, to the Pandoh dam.

The dam is some 15 km downstream from the accident spot.

Official sources said an army team also started a search operation Tuesday.

More than 60 students and faculty members of the V.N.R. Vignana Jyothi Institute of Engineering and Technology in Hyderabad were on an excursion to Manali.

Some of them were getting themselves photographed on the bank of the river when the sudden rush of water washed them away.

The river level suddenly increased due to release of water from the Larji hydropower project dam, located near the accident spot, without warning, witnesses said.

The chief minister directed the state power department to take extra precaution for averting any mishap in future while discharging water from the dams, a government statement said.

He said safety norms should be strictly enforced and before releasing the water, announcements should be made through vehicles besides use of hooters.

The chief minister said fencing on a two-three km stretch would be done at all dams besides other sensitive and dangerous zones and proper sign boards would be installed in such areas.

He said a high-level inquiry has been ordered and action would be taken against those found negligent in the incident.

The state government has announced a compensation of Rs.150,000 each for the next of kin of the victims.

Aisa Hussain, whose son was swept away in the river, said: "I want my child back. No stone should be left unturned."

"He should be traced at all costs. If he's not alive, I want the body of my son back," she told IANS.

She is among 55 parents of 19 missing students who have been camping in Mandi town and desperately waiting to hear about their sons and daughters.

"I fail to understand how my son, who was a very good swimmer, was swept away," said B.V. Suba Rao, whose son is also in the missing persons list.

He said most of the children who were drowned due to the negligence of the dam officials were brilliant.

The Himachal Pradesh High Court said it was not only a case of callousness but grave negligence.

"It's a sad tale by reason of the fact that sheer fun of the young students turned out to be fatal as a consequence of utter and callous negligence of the power project authorities," Justice Tarlok Singh Chauhan said, taking suo motu notice of the incident.

He directed the state government to file a status report on the incident by June 16.

The accident spot is located some 200 km from Shimla and on the border of Kullu and Mandi districts.