Leh death toll rises to 165; 81 foreigners rescued

Snehesh Alex Philip
Leh, Aug 9 (PTI) Rescue and relief efforts were being
carried out on a war-footing in cloudburst-hit Leh region of
north Indian state Jammu and Kashmir as 81 foreigners and six
tour guides, stranded in Zanskar Valley, were Monday rescued
by the Air Force while death toll mounted to 165 and 400
others remained missing.
165 people have been killed of whom 150 have been
identified so far, official sources said, adding the victims
include a Romanian woman, 15 Nepalese nationals and two
Tibetans.
Two French nationals and a Spaniard were yet to be
traced, they said.
The Indian Air Force carried out a record 62 sorties
by Chetak helicopters in five and half hours to bring back 81
foreign campers and six tour guides from the 11,000-feet
Zanskar Valley who were stuck there since intervening night of
August 5 and 6 after cloudburst and flash floods wreaked havoc
in Leh and surrounding areas.
The foreigners rescued include 17 British and French
nationals, nine people from the Netherlands, eight from
Czechoslovakia, seven Germans and four Israelis, according to
IAF officials.
200 people, including foreigners, are still stranded in
various places in the affected area, officials said.
Sniffer dogs, which arrived here by an IAF transport
aircraft, have been pressed into service to look for survivors
as relief efforts by security forces gained momentum who were
taking the help of heavy duty bulldozers and other machines to
clear the rubble.
The Army, Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), General
Reserve Engineer Force (GREF), police and civilian authorities
were trying hard to remove the piles of mud and slush which
had buried villages in the worst-battered Choglusmar belt here
as well as to restore telephone links, the sources said.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah today
visited Leh for the second time after the tragedy struck and
directed the Border Roads Organisation to clear the Manali-Leh
highway within next three days. He asked the officials engaged
in relief work to ensure that procedural formalities do not
delay the operation.
The highway which was swept away in flash floods is one
of the two road links between the 'cold desert' and other
parts of the country.
Meanwhile, a fresh cloudburst in Kargil area on Saturday
has cut off many villages.
The IAF tried to airdrop essential items including tents
and clothing in the villages affected by the cloudburst as
roads were badly damaged, Tashi Tsetan, Deputy Director with
the development wing of the local administration, said.
The Air Force has been ferrying medicines, relief
material and doctors here using IL-76 and AN-32 aircraft and
has been flying out bodies of the victims to various places as
the highways remained cutoff.
With death and destruction all around, the miraculous
survival of a three-year-old girl brought cheers to the ITBP
personnel slugging it out in the tough conditions.
Shreejal, daughter of ITBP Deputy Commandant
(Engineering) Raj Kumar who was separated from her parents in
the flash floods, was found alive neck deep in slush in one of
the building in the battalion campus though her face had
several injuries.

"Though my men had started the relief and rescue
operation within half an hour after the cloudburst, everyone
were praying for Kumar's family. As soon as the news spread
that they had been found, the morale went up," ITBP DIG P K
Dhasmana said
The campus of the 24th Battalion of the force, once a
neatly decked area housing officers, parks and playgrounds, is
now covered with boulders and slush.
The officers along with their families had managed to
climb atop their houses and escape the nature's wrath.
Sources said nearly 400, including 26 Army personnel,
were still missing in the devastating cloudburst that has done
considerable damage to the military establishment in this
remote region.
The Army said most of the missing personnel are feared
to have been buried under 20 to 25 feet of slush while a few
could even have been washed away into areas under Pakistan's
control.
"The cloudburst has done a lot of damage to civilian
as well as the military establishment," GOC of 14 Corps
Lieutenant General S K Singh said here.
He said small culverts and bridges used for going to
many forward locations have been destroyed and it will take
quite some time before these can be re-built.
The Army said it was hopeful of reopening the two
National Highways by the end of this week.
"Our priority is to restore connectivity on the two
National Highways for which we have put in all our resources,"
Singh said.
Singh said seven bridges are needed on the Zijia
access and four on the Rohtang access. Two bridges near Leh
were opened today.
Army's efforts to open the highway was hit earlier
after heavy rains yesterday washed away fresh portions. Singh
said the cloudburst has set back the process of winter
stocking by about 15 days.
With the memory of the disaster firmly etched in their
minds, the locals are reluctant to stay in makeshift hospitals
set up by relief agencies in the night and feel safer in
higher reaches.
Some villagers who are undergoing treatment at these
hospitals stay there during the day but as evening approaches
they remove intravenous drips of their relatives and take them
to higher reaches despite requests by paramedics not to do so.
"The psychological impact of these floods is too much
on these locals. Despite best of our efforts, they are not
getting convinced to stay in the relief camps during night.
"They prefer higher hills to spend the night. They
also take their near and dear ones who are under treatment at
these hospitals," a medic with Jammu and Kashmir Police said.
PTI SAP
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