Focus shifts to Sunni dam area after 10 bodies found

Tribune News Service

Shimla, August 7

As many as 10 bodies have been recovered from the Sutlej and the Sunni dam area after 36 people went missing from Samej village near Rampur in Shimla district following a devastating cloudburst on the night of July 31. Two bodies cremated at the village today were of Rachna (23) and Preetika, daughter of Rajkumar Pandey, who hail from Jharkhand but were residing in the village for two decades.

None of the 10 bodies recovered so far were retrieved from the debris in and around Samej village and were recovered from the Sutlej around Rampur or in the Sunni dam area.

As no bodies were found in and around Samej village in seven days after the cloudburst, the rescue teams were now focusing on the Sunni dam area and the Sutlej. “With the help of earth moving machines, we have dug up the areas where we thought there was a possibility of finding bodies in the Samej nullah. However, we have found none. Probably, the flow of water was very strong and the missing persons were swept away in the Sutlej,” said Sanjeev Gandhi, SP, Shimla.

Deputy Commissioner, Shimla, Anupam Kashyap and Gandhi had reached the village a few hours after the cloudburst and were regularly monitoring the rescue and search operations. “Now, we intend to focus more on the Sunni dam area where we believe we will be able to fish out more bodies,” said Gandhi.

Mohan Lal Kapatia, pradhan of Sarpara gram panchayat under which a major part of Samej village falls, said that the villagers were satisfied with the efforts of the rescue teams to retrieve bodies from the Samej nullah. “The rescue teams are trying their best to retrieve the bodies. Despite their best efforts, no body has been retrieve from the debris in the village. So, people will have no issues if the focus of the search operation is shifted to the Sunni dam area,” he added.