Kishtwar cloudburst: Multi-agency search intensifies to trace 33 missing

The multi-agency search operation to trace 33 missing persons in cloudburst-hit Kishtwar district in Jammu and Kashmir entered the eighth day on Thursday, officials said.

The death toll in the natural calamity that struck the last motorable village en route to the Machail Mata temple on August 14 during the yatra stands at 65, including three CISF personnel and one Special Police Officer (SPO) of J-K Police. Over 100 people were injured.

"The search operation by multiple agencies has been intensified to trace 33 missing persons. Operations are underway at the most affected sites by separate teams," a senior official told PTI.

The focus of the operation has been laid at three locations -- the major impact site near a langar (community kitchen), the area where houses were washed away, and the Bhuat nallah in Gulabgarh-Paddar areas.

Joint teams of police, Army, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), CISF, Border Roads Organisation (BRO), civil administration, and local volunteers are engaged in the rescue efforts at these sites, the officials said.

A team comprising NDRF, SDRF, and police personnel is conducting a search operation along the entire 22-km stretch of the stream from Chisoti to Gulabgarh, following the recovery of two bodies downstream over the past two days, the official said.

Specialised heavy-duty trucks have been deployed in the Chisoti to assist in rescue operations. Authorities are using such vehicles to ensure swift evacuation and provide relief in the affected areas, they said.

The rescue teams from the 13th Battalion of NDRF are actively carrying out search operations along the river-nallah bed, working tirelessly to locate and retrieve missing persons.

They are also removing large boulders and debris to ensure a thorough and safe search. Heavy machinery, including earth movers and sniffer dogs, are being used to sift through the debris, they said.

The officials said while the death toll stands at 65, some body parts of the missing people have been recovered, and the DNA identification process has begun.

Senior IAS and IPS officials, deputed on the directions of Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, are supervising the operation on the ground.

The flash floods triggered by the cloudburst left a trail of destruction, flattening a makeshift market and a langar site for the annual Machail Mata yatra, damaging 16 houses and government buildings, three temples, four water mills, a 30-metre-long bridge, besides over a dozen vehicles.

Army engineers on Sunday built a Bailey bridge over the Chisoti nullah, restoring much-needed connectivity to the village and the Machail Mata shrine.

The Army has also inducted a couple of all-terrain vehicles as part of efforts to intensify the rescue and relief operation.

The rescuers also carried out over half a dozen controlled explosions to blow up giant boulders hampering the search.

The annual Machail Mata yatra, which began on July 25 and was scheduled to conclude on September 5, remained suspended for the seventh consecutive day on Wednesday.

However, authorities will allow a group of devotees carrying the 'Charri' from Jammu, who are expected to reach the shrine on August 21 or 22. The 8.5-km trek to the 9,500-foot-high shrine starts from Chisoti, located about 90 km from Kishtwar town.