Family of 3 killed, 6 injured in cloudburst in Uttarakhand

Pithoragarh, July 20

A family of three was killed and six others injured as a cloudburst hit two adjacent villages in Uttarakhand’s Pithoragarh district on Monday, officials said.

Eleven people are also reported missing, they said.

Sher Singh, his wife Govindi Devi and daughter Kumari Mamta were killed after their house in Gaila village caved in due to heavy rains triggered by the cloudburst. The incident took place around 2 am, when the family was fast asleep, Pithoragarh District Magistrate (DM) V K Jogdande told reporters.

Two of the bodies have been recovered, while the search for the third is underway, he said.

Five others were injured in the village, he said.

One person was rescued in Tanga village, and he told authorities that 11 others were washed away in a swollen rivulet, Jogdande said.

The two villages fall in the Bangapani sub-division of the district.

Relief and rescue operations have been launched by police and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) personnel with help from locals, the DM said.

Two other villages were also hit by the cloudburst, resulting in damage to five houses, he said. PTI