Two days after a devastating cloudburst struck Chisoti village in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kishtwar district, anxious relatives of the missing are clinging to fading hope.
With rescue operations continuing on the third day, the grief-stricken relatives said they are hoping against hope, as every passing hour dims the chances of the victims’ survival.
So far, 82 people — 81 pilgrims and one CISF personnel — are reported missing after the cloudburst-induced flash floods hit the village in Padder sub-division of Jammu and Kashmir’s Kishtwar district on Thursday afternoon.
Jammu, Udhampur and Samba districts accounted for the highest number of 60 missing people.
Four people each from Haryana and Madhya Pradesh and one person from Himachal Pradesh are also among those reported missing by their relatives, while the rest belonged to Doda, Reasi and Rajouri districts of Jammu and Kashmir.
The disaster struck Chisoti — the last motorable village en route to the Machail Mata temple — at around 12.25 pm on August 14, leaving 60 persons dead and over 100 others injured.
The deluge flattened a makeshift market, a langar (community kitchen) site for the yatra, and a security outpost. At least 16 residential houses and government buildings, three temples, four water mills, a 30-metre-long bridge, and over a dozen vehicles were also damaged in the flash floods.
The annual Machail Mata yatra, which began on July 25 and was scheduled to conclude on September 5, remained suspended for the third consecutive day on Saturday. The 8.5-kilometre trek to the 9,500-foot-high shrine starts from Chisoti, located about 90 kilometres from Kishtwar town.
In Benagarh village on the outskirts of Jammu, the bereaved locals are waiting eagerly for any news of the seven residents, including four children, who had gone missing after the calamity.
They were among the eight villagers from different households who had gone on the yatra. While body of Mamta was retrieved and handed over to her relatives in the village, the rest remain untraced.
“The entire village is in grief. We are hopeful that the rescuers will find them alive,” said Ajay Kumar, one of the relatives.
He said they have not eaten since the news of the incident. “The yatra should have been stopped in view of the weather forecast to avoid human loss,” he said.
The visibly shaken parents of Vanshika and Disha, who are among the missing, reached Jammu from Kishtwar. They broke down on seeing their relatives, who tried to console them.
“I saw my world crashing before my eyes. My daughters have gone away from me,” the wailing mother said.
The father of the girls said he went to every hospital and the mortuary looking for her daughters. “I have seen a headless body, but that did not belong to my daughters,” he said in a quivering voice.
The body of Happy Sharma, who was also reported missing along with three others, reached his home in Jammu’s Bishnah area on Friday. His last rites were performed at Parmandal, said Darshan Lal, a relative.
Lal added that six other people including five children from the area are missing.
Surinder Singh, a former sarpach from Sarai village in Samba district, said that a woman named Poonam and her daughters Rashika and Namika are missing.
They were among eight locals who had gone for the yatra from the village, Singh said, adding that Poonam’s husband and a son survived the calamity.
“The entire village is praying for their safe return,” he said.
Shahi Paul, his wife Savita Devi, their children Kaniya and Shivam, and relatives Sudesh Kumari and Vishal from Vijaupur in Samba district are missing.
Shalini, Pooja, Babu and his son are among the pilgrims from Madhya Pradesh who have gone missing, along with Vijendar, Raj Kumari, Vedika and Chahat from Haryana and Dewan from Himachal Pradesh.
Five residents of New Plot locality of Jammu are missing. While bodies of four people from a single lane in Janipur locality have reached their homes, and two others from the area remained untraced.
A Central Industrial Security Force personnel, Manoj Kumar Biswal, is also reported missing.
A coordinated rescue and relief operation continued for the third consecutive day on Saturday with police, army, National Disaster Response Force, State Disaster Response Force, Border Roads Organisation, civil administration, and local volunteers sifting through the rubble to find out the missing persons.
So far, 46 bodies have been identified and handed over to their next of kin after completion of legal formalities.