Rescue teams and locals search through debris after the devastating cloudburst in Chisoti village, Kishtwar, Jammu and Kashmir (PTI)
Rescue and relief operations are ongoing in Kishtwar district's Chisoti village, entering the third day since one of Kashmir's devastating cloudbursts that had taken at least sixty lives.
Over a hundred individuals have been said to be injured with many still missing. Officials fear that this death toll could be much higher as eyewitnesses claim hundreds of persons may have been swept away by the rampaging waters.
Almost a dozen earth movers have been deployed, and specialized equipment along with trained dog squads of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) have been pressed into action to expedite the search. To date, there were 46 recovered bodies identified and handed over to their families.
ALSO READ: Kishtwar Cloudburst: 60 Dead, 100 Injured as Rescue Ops Continue for Third Day
The disaster struck at 12:25 noon on August 14, utterly demolishing Chisoti, the last motorable halt for those on their way to the Machail Mata shrine. Flash floods washed away a busy makeshift market, a community kitchen for pilgrims, and a security outpost. Sixteen dwelling houses were wiped out, along with many government buildings, temples, water mills, a bridge and a few vehicles.
Footage from ground zero shows torrents of muddy water and debris roaring down the slopes, flattening homes and in an instant reducing green hillsides to a wasteland composed of rock and silt. Locals stated that the calamity was “unlike anything they had ever seen.”
The Indian Air Force has stationed Mi-17 and Advanced Light Helicopters at Jammu and Udhampur to aid the relief work. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah visited the site, receiving first-hand observations from Army officers and virtually assessing the scale of the damage.
ALSO READ: Massive Cloudburst Rocks Kishtwar’s Chishoti Village, Casualties Feared
Union minister Jitendra Singh and Jammu & Kashmir's DGP Nalin Prabhat also inspected the devastated area late Friday. Meanwhile, police and security forces have helped to facilitate the construction of a makeshift log bridge to allow safe transit of pilgrims and villagers across the swollen stream.
The annual Machail Mata pilgrimage, which began on July 25, remained suspended for three consective days. The trek, which takes off from Chisoti and stretches 8.5 km toward the 9,500-foot-high shrine, had an estimated number of devotees, approximately 15,000, present at the time of the cloudburst.
Authorities confirmed that around 4,000 pilgrims were evacuated, while more were escorted over a Bailey bridge built by the Army.
Politicians from across the spectrum, including the BJP MLA Sunil Sharma and minister Satish Sharma, have met with bereaved families, offered condolences and promised government support. For now, though, sorrow hangs over the village as families wait in agonizing anxiety for news of missing loved ones.
ALSO READ: Kishtwar Cloudburst Kills Over 30, 12 Bodies Recovered, Relief Ops Underway
