2 more bodies recovered from Uttarakhand’s cloudburst-hit area

Pithoragarh, July 21

The death toll from the cloudburst that hit two adjacent villages in Uttarakhand’s Pithoragarh district rose to five on Tuesday with the recovery of two more bodies, officials said.

A family of three was killed and six others were injured as the cloudburst hit adjacent villages of Gaila Pattharkot and Tanga under the Bangapani sub-division in the early hours of Monday.

Rescue teams pulled out two bodies from tonnes of rubble in Tanga where 11 people had gone missing, said Pithoragarh District Magistrate V K Jogdande, who was at the spot.

The bodies are being sent for post-mortem and search for nine more people is still on, he said.

Rescue operations in the area are being conducted by 10 State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and 20 revenue police personnel, the DM said, adding two medical teams are also at their disposal.

On Monday, one person was rescued in Tanga and he told authorities that 11 others were washed away in a swollen rivulet. —PTI