Emergency teams struggled to deliver food and aid to survivors of flash floods that killed at least 136 people, left 500 injured and 200 missing in Leh.
Emergency teams struggled to deliver food and aid to survivors of flash floods that killed at least 136 people, left 500 injured and 200 missing in Leh.
A cloudburst on Friday caused devastating floods that swept away roads, buildings, bridges and power cables in a tide of rock and mud. Rescuers fear many more victims may have died after being buried. The army airlifted heavy engineering equipment to Leh to reconstruct bridges and restore road connectivity.
Soldiers, police and paramilitary troops led the relief operation on Sunday, sifting through destroyed homes and providing basic medical care to those injured. “The death toll has gone up to 136 and around 400 are injured,” a defence spokesman said.
Rescue operations are going as per schedule. Army, police, paramilitary and civil administration are carrying out the operations,” Aamir Ali, coordinator of disaster management cell of Jammu and Kashmir, said. The army has sent 29 columns of soldiers and several engineers to damaged areas to help people. A total of 90 tourists are believed to be stranded at Lamayaru, 76 are stuck at Pang, and seven at Darchiks. Soldiers are trying to rescue them.
The army is working in two ways to help people: It is helping in relief and rescue efforts and trying to build temporary bridges where bridges have been washed away. Leh, situated in an arid mountain desert at an altitude of 11,500 feet, receives virtually no rainfall all year and has no planned drainage system.
The main hospital was badly damaged in the floods and makeshift medical centres dealt with scores of patients on Sunday. “Children with broken bones have been carried here, and many people say the water just took away everything in its path,” a photojournalist at a hospital said.
Communication links with the area remained patchy and Leh was without electricity. Landslides blocked the two roads to the area via Srinagar and via the Manali-Leh highway.
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