Leh cloudburst: Toll reaches 150, massive rescue efforts continue

An aerial view of Leh.

Rescue and relief teams today continued to search for hundreds of people listed as missing after Friday's cloudburst and the subsequent flash floods and mudslides in the Leh region of Jammu and Kashmir even as the death count in the disaster climbed to around 150.

More than 500 people were injured in the tragedy and hundreds of structures, including houses, government buildings and public facilities, were damaged by the floods and mudslides. Power and communication links were also snapped.

Sources said the death toll was around 150 but they feared many more bodies could be found when the rescue teams moved into the affected villages in remote areas and cleared the rubble.

An Ilyushin-76 aircraft of the Indian Air Force (IAF) transported equipment of the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) from Delhi to help restore communication links in the region. Additional BSNL equipment were airlifted by two AN-32 aircraft from Chandigarh.

A spokesman for the Defence Ministry said a heavy duty bulldozer was also airlifted from Chandigarh to Leh by an IL-76 aircraft to help clear the debris in the affected areas.

Medical items provided by the Union Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, on the basis of the requirements projected by the Jammu & Kashmir government, as well as relief material and 5000 blankets were carried to Leh by an AN-32 aircraft from Udhampur.

According to the spokesman, bodies of ten of the victims, who were from outside the state, were brought by two AN-32 aircraft to Udhampur today.

A Cheetah helicopter, meanwhile, was used to evacuate a Spanish tourist from Egu to Leh today.

The spokesman said 29 columns of Army personnel continued to be deployed for rescue and relief operations.

As many as 95 people of Hanoyogma village near Handen Brooke, whose houses have been washed away, are being provided food and shelter by the nearby Army post.

A spokesman for the Home Ministry said that, apart from State Government personnel and the Armed Forces, teams from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and paramilitary forces were engaged in the relief efforts.

He said the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) was helping to plug the breaches on National Highway (NH) 1A between Srinagar and Kargil and Kargil and Leh functional.

A view of land slide at Leh Air Field.

He said 45 NDRF personnel, along with 27 medical staff and rescue and relief materials such as tents, tarpaulin, inflatable boats and medicines, reached the affected areas yesterday. The Ministry has provided five satellite phones to the State Government.

At many places, scores of foreign tourists, who were stranded after the tragedy, were seen joining the local people in the relief efforts, helping to clear the debris and assisting victims at hospitals.

The cloudburst occurred in the Choglumsar area near Leh between 1.30 and 2 am on Friday morning, triggering off flash floods and mudslides and causing devastation in vast areas of the district. Among other structures, facilities such as the bus stand, BSNL towers, hospitals and Air Traffic Control towers at the airport were affected.

The road approaches to Leh from Srinagar through Zozilla and from Rohtang Pass had been cut off because bridges had been washed away by the mudslides.

A Defence Ministry statement yesterday had said that as many as 40 Armed Forces personnel were reported missing. The Defence Institute of High Altitude Research of DRDO had also been damaged, it said.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has directed the Ministry of Defence to provide all-out rescue and relief assistance to the victims of the cloudburst.

The Army has set up makeshift hospitals in some of the worst affected areas so that the victims could be given immediate medical treatment before being shifted to Leh.

All the civilian doctors in the Leh District Hospital are operating from the Army Hospital in the town because the Civil Hospital has been filled with mud.

Condition of the Leh Airfield after the cloud burst, the Runway and required part for operation is already made clear.

The Leh District Administration has set up a 24 hours control room to coordinate relief and rescue operations. The contact numbers of the control room are 099 0699 0787 / 099 0699 0835. The satellite phone number 00 870 7636 13623 in the Control Room of the District Administration of Leh can also be contacted for information.

Leh is located at 11,500 feet above sea level, about 425 kilometres from Srinagar, the state capital.

NNN