Eleven persons were killed, five others sustained injuries while eight went missing as rains-triggered flash-floods and landslides wreaked havoc in the twin PirPanjal districts of Rajouri and Poonch on Sunday. Hundreds of people were rescued and shifted to safer places also in multi-agency relief and rescue operations.
According to Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Rajouri-Poonch range Sandeep Wazir, ten people including six persons of one family died in Poonch while one woman was killed in Rajouri, due to rain-induced incidents of devastating floods, landslides in the two districts during the last 24 hours. Five injured were also hospitalised.
The devastating floods that hit areas of Rajouri and Poonch districts last night, besides incurring huge loss of life, caused massive damage to private and government property, roads and other infrastructure also. Hundreds of vehicles either washed away or suffered damages in flash-floods in the two districts. Power supply too was badly impacted in the entire Poonch district while half of Rajouri was also reeling under darkness.
FLASH FLOODS, LANDSLIDES CLAIM AROUND DOZEN LIVES IN TWIN DISTTS
In Poonch district, Surankote was the most affected part in rain-induced natural calamities claiming precious lives in multiple incidents of house collapse, land and mudslides. In the entire district so far, ten deaths were recorded while six people were missing and feared dead. In an incident of landslide triggered by heavy rains, eight persons of a family were buried under the debris of their house in Lowe Murrah tehsil of Surankote. Five bodies were retrieved and of them, three were identified as well. The deceased included Sofian Yasar 2, son of Yasar Iqbal; Bano Bi, wife of Mohd Hussain and KhaldaKouser, 25, wife of Yawar Iqbal. The identity of two bodies was yet to be ascertained. Three persons were still trapped under the debris and efforts were on to trace them. Body of a woman was found in Suranriver at village Dhundak tehsil Surankote. The deceased was identified as Manira Begum, 25, daughter of Abdul Rasheed, resident of Sangla, Surankote.
Separately, the body of a teenager identified as Iram, 18, daughter of Abdul Majid, resident of MarhoteSurankote was recovered from Marhotenullah. In an incident of house collapse, the body of Shahzeb Ahmed was found under debris at his house at Sanglani, Bufliaz in Surankote. In a similar incident of house collapse, a woman NaziaKosar, 28, wife of MohdHafeez, resident of NoonaBandi, tehsil Haveli Poonch lost her life. In total, ten bodies have so far been retrieved at four different locations in the district. Eight have been identified while the identity of two is yet to be ascertained.
The injured, in these incidents in district Poonch, included MohdHafeez, 36, son of Fakhar Din; Reyaz Hafiz, 5, son of MohdHafeez and Maryam Hafeez, 2, daughter of MohdHafeez, all residents of village NoonaBandi tehsil Haveli. They are presently under treatment at the District Hospital Poonch. Earlier, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) PoonchShafqat Hussain said that nine bodies were retrieved and six more people were missing. “Large scale efforts are underway to trace those missing people. The number of missing may also rise further,” he said. In Rajouri district, one Pinki Devi (50), a slum dweller from Rajouri town, washed away in flash floods at around 4 am and her body was retrieved later on.
An unidentified body of a man was spotted in the river at NowsheraPotha village. The body was yet to be retrieved as it was lying on a huge rock in the middle of the river. Furthermore, two to three more people were feared missing in Rajouri district. They included two boys from Malik market area of Rajouri and one Jal Shakti Department employee from Thannamandi, who was present in the water pumping station last night and was washed away by fast currents of water.
Two persons were also hospitalised in Rajouri civil hospital after they received injuries in an incident of landsliding. DC Rajouri Abhishek Sharma, who visited flood affected areas to assess the ground situation and interact with the affected residents, assured all possible help from the district administration. He directed officials to ensure timely relief and rehabilitation of every affected family. He said that all attempts were being made to trace the missing people and added that the restoration efforts were also underway.