Himachal cloudbursts: Death toll rises to nine, search on for 45 missing

On Friday, death toll rose to eight in the flash floods triggered by a series of cloudbursts in Kullu's Nirmand, Sainj and Malana; Mandi's Padhar and Shimla's Rampur subdivision on night of July 31

Rescuers are attempting to blast a boulder after they spotted a victim trapped under it in Rajban village in Himachal Pradesh's Mandi district on Saturday where five people are still missing.

With the recovery of a body from Rajban village in Himachal's Mandi, the death toll due to flash floods triggered by cloudbursts in three districts has increased to nine as the rescuers continue to search for about 45 missing people.

According to officials, 410 rescuers from teams of the Army, NDRF, SDRF, ITBP, CISF, Himachal Pradesh Police and home guards are involved in the hunt with the help of drones.

On Friday, the death toll rose to eight in the flash floods triggered by a series of cloudbursts in Kullu's Nirmand, Sainj and Malana; Mandi's Padhar and Shimla's Rampur subdivision on the night of July 31.

"A combined rescue operation is underway and efforts are afoot to search for the missing people. We are using various equipment and sensors to detect victims buried or trapped under the debris," said NDRF Commanding Officer Karam Singh whose team along with others is engaged in searching for the missing people in Samej village on the border of Shimla and Kullu district.

Of the total, over 30 people are missing in Samej village, which falls under Rampur subdivision of Shimla district.

"The possibility of rescuing people alive is diminishing with each passing hour but we just hope that the bodies are recovered soon as delay would lead to decaying of bodies which would make identification difficult," said Pradhan of Gram Sarpara Mohan Lal Kaptiya.

Former chief minister and Leader of Opposition Jai Ram Thakur on Saturday visited the Sainj area in Kullu district and interacted with the affected families.

He said that some of the victims are still awaiting the relief fund and asked the administration to provide help at the earliest.

On Friday, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, who visited Samej village, announced an immediate relief of Rs 50,000 for the victims and said they would be given Rs 5,000 monthly for rent for the next three months along with gas, food and other essential items.

He also said that 115 houses, 23 cowsheds, 10 shops and three fish farms have perished in this disaster besides motorable, footbridges and vehicles in cloudburst since Wednesday night.

Around 300 people stranded around Shrikhand Mahadev in Kullu and about 25 tourists at Malana were safe, Chief Secretary Prabodh Saxena had said on Friday.

School washed away, fellow students remember close friends

"Our school has been washed away and eight students are missing and we don't know where we will study and how will we participate in tournaments to be held in September," lament the distraught students of Government Senior Secondary School, Samej, who are yet to reconcile with the awful tragedy.

"Eight girls from the school were members of the volleyball and badminton teams but three of them are not with us and I don't know how we will participate in the tournaments slated for September 15," said Aditi, a class X student.

"We used to play, study and spend time together but my friends Aruti and Arun are not with us," said shocked Ashwani Kumar, a class IX student, who fondly remembered his friends.

Another class IX student Aman expressed similar sentiments about Aruti and Arun.

Recalling the harrowing incident, physical education teacher Ravinder, whose room was just two minutes walk from the school, said, "I heard the deafening sound and rushed towards the school and rescued the Chowkidar Dhyan Chand and one student but could not save other eight students as gushing flood waters swallowed the school within no time."

"There are 72 students in the school and the eight students who were swept away were students of Class IX, X and Plus two and all of them were very good in studies and sports," he added.