Seven die in rain-related incidents in Jammu region

Ranjit Thakur and Sanjay Pathak

Doda/Kathua, September 24

Seven persons, including five members of a family, were killed in different rain-related incidents in Doda and Kathua districts of the Jammu region during the past 24 hours.

According to the police, five members of a family, including an infant, were buried alive after a major landslide hit their mud shelter in the Gandoh area of Doda district.

The landslide was triggered by overnight rains in Bhatoli, 18 km from the tehsil headquarters. Locals came to know about the incident on Monday morning.

The deceased have been identified as Bashir Ahmad (30), Nageena Bagum (26), Zulfi Banoo (12), Mohammed Sharief (8) and two-year-old Tasleema Banoo.

A joint rescue operation launched by police, Army and Sashastra Seema Bal personnel with the support of locals retrieved the bodies from the debris. The Sub-District Police Officer (SDPO), Gandoh, Krishan Singh, said: “We reached the Bali-Bhatoli nullah around 10 am and called in the Army for help as temporary shelters made by villagers had been washed away in floods.”

“We build a temporary bridge in record time by putting logs with the help of locals over the flooded nullah and shifted all five bodies from there,” the SDPO said, adding that the locals have been for long demanding a bridge over the nullah.

“The next of kin of the deceased will get ex gratia of Rs 4 lakh each under the State Disaster Relief Fund,” said Sub-District Magistrate Dalbir Choudhary.

Meanwhile, two persons, including a woman, lost their lives due to inclement weather in Kathua district. Police sources said a woman was killed after she was hit by a landslide in Malhar tehsil of the district. She was identified as Hazara Begum, 50. “The police also recovered the body of a teenager identified as Vijay Kumar, a resident of Dhar Dugnnu in Billawar, who was swept away in flash floods last night,” the sources said. The body was recovered from a local nullah. Though the weather conditions improved in the district yet several landslide-hit roads, including the Bani-Basohli stretch, remained closed to traffic for the second consecutive day on Monday.

Traffic also remained disrupted on the Dhar-Udhampur stretch after the approach road to the bridge on the Bhini nullah in Kathua was damaged in flash floods last night.

As many as 29 persons, including six women and 10 children, were rescued from various flood-hit areas of the district during overnight operations. They were rescued from Nagri, Chabbe Chak, Jakhole and Billawar areas of the district by police and state disaster response force personnel.

29 rescued from flood-hit Kathua

• As many as 29 persons, including six women and 10 children, were rescued from various flood-hit areas of Kathua during overnight operations by police and state disaster response force personnel
• Though the weather conditions improved in the district yet several landslide-hit roads, including the Bani-Basohli stretch, remained closed to traffic for the second consecutive day on Monday