Rescuers hope for survivors after floods kill 132

Rescuers struggled to find survivors after devastating floods killed at least 132 people in Indian Kashmir.

Rescuers struggled to find survivors on Saturday after devastating floods caused by freak rains killed at least 132 people in a remote part of Indian Kashmir popular for adventure sports.

“The death toll has gone up to 132 and scores are still missing,” a senior police official said.

The Times of India reported that more than 600 people are feared to have been washed away in the torrential rains and flash floods, which devastated the Himalayan town of Leh in the Ladakh region.

Thousands were left homeless and atleast 400 people were reported injured in the floods.

Scores remained missing as heavy rainfalls on Saturday briefly disrupted rescue efforts and raised fears of more flooding, with several villages in the stark Himalayan border region still cut off.

Shops in a newly built market in Leh, the main town in the majority Buddhist Ladakh area, were transformed into temporary mortuaries where rescuers laid out bodies.

“Unclaimed bodies are piling and it is becoming a major problem to preserve them,” a police officer said.

A small village before Choglumsur was completely wiped out. The worst hit Choglumsar village has over 200 people missing.

A contractor told senior state administration officials that 150 labourers employed by him were missing from the Shyong village, where he had lodged them. The colony was set up along Indus River, and the officials feared that many huts would have been washed away in the flash floods.

Some of the villages along the Chang La pass, world’s second highest motorable road, were also believed to have been washed away in the torrential rains.

Rescuers waded through knee-deep mud to reach victims trapped in collapsed buildings.

Up to 3,000 tourists were staying in Leh, but none of the major hotels suffered serious damage, Leh tourism official Nissar Hussain said.

India’s military was assisting in the rescue efforts after flood waters swamped Leh and surrounding villages. Air Force flights resumed to Leh airport Saturday after workers cleared runways of mud and debris, bringing vital relief supplies.

But the floodwaters had washed away parts of the main highway to the town, making road transport difficult. “The flights have brought in relief material, including medicines,” tourism official Nissar Hussain informed.

Civilian doctors were operating in the main army hospital as “the Leh Civil Hospital has been filled with mud,” Kar said.

Army spokesman Colonel J S Brar said that rescue operations which had slowed down due to heavy rains have picked up again.

President Pratibha Patil and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh expressed grief over the tragedy.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 8^th, 2010.