Search for missing continues on day 5 in J&K's Kishtwar despite heavy rain

Braving heavy rains and difficult terrain, rescuers pressed on with the large-scale search operation to trace those buried under debris in this cloudburst-hit remote village of Jammu and Kashmir's Kishtwar on the fifth day on Monday, officials said.

Donning rain coats, the rescue teams were seen working at multiple locations, especially the major impact spot near a langar (community kitchen) site, despite the downpour, sifting through the rubble using heavy machinery, including earth movers and sniffer dogs.

Cloudburst struck Chisoti, the last motorable village en route to the Machail Mata temple, on August 14, killing 61 people, including three CISF personnel and one Special Police Officer, and leaving over 100 others injured. The number of missing people has been reported as around 50 after a fresh revision of the list.

The flash-floods triggered by the cloudburst left a trail of destruction, flattening a makeshift market, 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.

Today is the fifth day of the operation, and combined efforts are underway to recover the mortal remains of the missing persons. The weather is challenging in view of the rain. We also have a warning (of heavy rains) for the day, but still we are trying our best, a CISF officer said. The 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.

Army engineers on Sunday built a Bailey bridge over Chisoti nullah, providing 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 the efforts to intensify the rescue and relief operation, officials said. 

The rescuers conducted about half a dozen controlled explosions over the last two days 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 fifth consecutive day on Sunday.

The 8.5-km trek to the 9,500-foot-high shrine starts from Chisoti, located about 90 km from Kishtwar town.

The rescuers are utilising over a dozen earth-movers and other heavy equipment, while the NDRF mobilised its resources, including dog squads, to speed up the rescue operation.