news details |
|
|
| Death toll rises to 170 in Leh, bodies of 23 foreigners also found | | Rescuers lose hope of finding alive any of 600 odd missing persons | | EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, Aug 10: With the list of the dead swelling with each passing day since the August 5 cloudbursts in Leh, rescuers and Leh administration have lost all hopes of finding any alive person now.
Official sources said as rescuers today dug out the bodies of 23 foreign nationals from underneath a thick layer of mud, the death toll in the devastating incident rose to over 170.
Estimated 600 people, including 26 army personnel, foreign tourists and outstation labourers, were missing after the August 5 night cloudbursts that triggered flash floods and mudslides, ravaging Leh and its adjoining villages.
As the victims were either buried alive underneath thick layers of mud and the debris of the collapsed houses, or had been washed away to the areas across the border in Pakistan, the chances of their survival after five days of the disaster were remote.
Official sources said when the rescue operation would be wound up and the bodies of all missing persons recovered, it could turn out to be the biggest disaster ever in Jammu and Kashmir.
Weather permitting, it could take a fortnight or so to complete the rescue operation, the sources added.
Sources said the loss of lives in the catastrophic consequences of the cloudburst and the subsequent flash floods, heavy rains and mudslides were the worst.
The rescue operation was on in full swing and BRO had been asked to clear the Leh-Manali highway in three days, the sources added.
Sources said three French nationals, an Italian and a Spaniard were among 23 foreigners whose bodies had been pulled out from underneath the rubble.
They were identified as Augavelis Henri, Hellot Jacques and Daniel Hauri (all French), Riccardo Titton (Italian) and Maromas Maria Lousdes (Spaniard).
Sixteen of them were from Nepal. Sources identified them as Nema Zangmo, Tsering Neklal, Bakta Bahadur, Kama Lama, Ajay Raina, Khunchok Gelak, Lakpa Gyalmo, Shekhar, Mahurdin Ansari, Manee Patel, Ramesh Patel, Narai Badur Sume, Santosh Kumar, Nel Badur, Saryanareyan Chaudhary and Anil Chaudhary.
The two others were Tibetans -- Pasang Tsering and Tsering Yangkyid.
Meanwhile, 73 people, including 49 security personnel, who were injured at different places following cloudburst, were brought to Udhampur from Leh for treatment in an IL-76 transport aircraft this morning. Thirteen of them were admitted to the GMC Hospital here for treatment.
A special control room has been set up in the Ministry of External Affairs to streamline the collation and dissemination of information on foreigners affected by the tragedy.
Information about Indians and foreign nationals who have sadly lost their lives, have been injured or are stranded in Leh, was being collated by agencies involved in rescue and relief efforts.
A small village near Choglamsar, which bore the brunt of flashfloods and heavy rains after the cloudbursts, was completely wiped out.
Sources said the rescue teams were looking for survivors in the mud slush and debris of the damaged houses in the hamlet.
Some of the villages along the Chang La pass, world's second highest motorable road, were also said to have been washed away.
A day after the disaster, a contractor was quoted as having said that 150 labourers engaged by him were missing from Shyong village where they stayed.
Army had been asked to prepare a list of the outstation labourers who worked at Leh.
The flood-ravaged Choglamsar was ruined badly. In many of its hamlets, houses and their occupants had vanished.
The Srinagar-Leh highway was also unusable as a crucial bridge between Syong and Nemu was washed away.
Meanwhile, the state revenue department has begun a painstaking exercise to gauge the extent of economic damage suffered by the district.
"What we feel is that 40 per cent of the infrastructure, which is irrigation canals, link roads and bridges, has been destroyed.
Another 40 per cent is partially damaged. May be 20 per cent is intact," Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council chairman Chering Dorjay said.
He said the cloudburst has severely affected agriculture. "We now have a standing crop but all the irrigation canals have been washed away especially the headworks. At some places, the nallahs have become deeper by as much as 20 feet," he added.
Dorjay said it would roughly take a minimum of two years for the disaster-hit district to be rebuilt and this would involve thousands of tonnes of cement, steel, bitumen and other construction materials.
The Leh calamity today figured in the Lok Sabha too with two Congress members from Jammu and Kashmir requesting the Centre to ensure all support in rehabilitation of the affected.
"Calamity has struck Ladakh. Thousands are still missing," Lal Singh said during Zero Hour. Noting that the Centre had announced an ex-gratia relief of Rs one lakh to each of those killed, he said it was not enough.
His party colleague from Jammu, Madan Lal Sharma also raised the issue, saying thousands of people had been left homeless by the tragedy.
BJP leader L K Advani asked his party MPs to donate Rs 10,000 from their salary for providing relief to the victims and suggested that the MPLAD funds be diverted for rehabilitation and rebuilding of the region.
He suggested that all MPs should give Rs 10,000 from their salary to Sangh Parivar’s Sewa Bharti which was active in providing relief to the people affected by flash floods in Leh.
"We will take up this issue through Lok Sabha Speaker and Rajya Sabha Chairman in both Houses of Parliament for diverting funds of members for the cloudbursts-ravaged Leh," another BJP leader said.
Several labourers from Chhattisgarh, who were working in the region,were reported missing while seven were found dead following the floods.
Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh has promised all help to bring the survivors back to the home state and provide relief to the families of the dead.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
STOCK UPDATE |
|
|
 |
| BSE
Sensex |
 |
| NSE
Nifty |
|
|
| |
CRICKET UPDATE |
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
