Families lose hope as the bodies in Kishtwar flash floods not retrieved

By: Musaib Iqbal MK

Srinagar

The long wait for the bodies of their dear ones is turning painful now as the authorities have failed to retrieve bodies of 19 persons who went missing following a cloudburst at Honzar Dachan in Kishtwar district as rescuers continued the operation till date.

The government has said that they have intensified their efforts to trace the bodies of 19 persons as there is no clue so far about them after they were washed away in the flash floods triggered by a cloudburst in Kishtwar.

According to the official data among those 19 persons who are missing it includes 8 women also as all of them were washed by the sudden floods in the Dachan village of Kishtwar.

Eight women among 19 persons went missing following the cloudburst and subsequent flash floods in the remote village on intervening night of July 27 and 28.

According to GNS, in its news report, quoting officials have said authorities have pressed teams of NDRF and SDRF for carrying out the rescue operation. Several teams of the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) with “sophisticated equipment” were earlier involved in the operation along with other rescuers from police, Army and local volunteers, the officials said.

Success has been eluding the search teams after seven bodies were recovered and seventeen persons rescued in injured condition after the calamity on Wednesday last.

The missing persons include Saja Begum (60) wife of Ghulam Mohidin, Khursheed Ahmed (31) son of Mohammad Iqbal, Fida Hussain (26) son of Mohammad Ramzan, Mohammad Sharif (40) son of Ghulam Rasool, Almina Tasbassum (22) daughter of Mohammad Iqbal, Mata Begum (45) wife of Lala Tantry, Ghulam Mohammad (70) son of Ghulam Rasool, Fazal Hussain (18) son of Rustom Ali Chopan, Tariq Hussain (50) son of Nazir Ahmed, Zarina Begum (40) wife of Tariq Hussain, Mata Begum (45) wife of Ghulam Rasool, Fatima Begum (56) wife of Ghulam Ahmed, Bashir Ahmed (45) son of Rustum Ali, Begum (45) wife of Abdul Rehman, Sharifa Begum (38) wife of Ghulam Mohammad, Shakir Hussain (22) son of Ghulam Ahmed, Ghulam Ahmed (65) son of Abdul Aziz, Zubaida Banoo (25) daughter of Ghulam Ahmed and Khalid son of Haji Gami.

The police have also started a community kitchen since last Saturday to provide meals to affected people of village Hounzar. The police said to have erected tents to provide the temporary shelter at the site.

With inputs from GNS