29 missing in Himachal Pradesh presumed dead, search being called off
Search and rescue operations in the disaster-hit areas of Mandi district will come to a complete halt within a week as National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams will be withdrawn in a phased manner, said an official.
Mandi was hit by a barrage of 10 cloudbursts around a fortnight ago, triggering devastating flash floods. So far, 15 bodies have been recovered, and there is no trace of the 27 people still missing.
Assisted by dog squads and drones, search teams have been combing Thunag, Gohar, Karsog, and Dharampur subdivisions and even as far as the banks of Beas and Satluj rivers, but without much success. "They have searched every inch of the affected places.
Certain areas were searched more than once in the hope that the victims would be found. The victims were either buried in the piles of muck that came along with the floods, or they were washed away by the rivulets that flow into the Beas and Satluj rivers," said Mandi deputy commissioner Apoorv Devgan.
The Mandi district administration has started the process of officially declaring the missing 27 people dead. "A notification inviting objections from residents will be issued soon.
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Once the process is complete, we will issue the death certificates of all the missing people who are presumed dead, 15 days after the tragedy," said incident commander Surender Mohan, who is in charge of managing the disaster response in affected areas of Mandi.
Of the 225 NDRF personnel, 125 have already been withdrawn. An Army unit was also brought back from the flood-hit Thunag and is presently stationed in Pandoh in Mandi district.
A battalion of Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) has also been sent back to its base camp in Babeli near Kullu.
"State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) teams are still stationed in the disaster-hit areas. I guess all the teams will be completely withdrawn in a week," Devgan told TOI.
Nineteen people are missing in Thunag, seven in Gohar and one in Karsog. Two persons in Siund area of Sainj valley in Kullu district are also missing since a flash flood struck on June 25.
They, too, are presumed dead. NDRF found the body of a third victim, 13-year-old Murti, after a three-day search but there was no sign of the other two.
109 Dead This Monsoon
Himachal Pradesh has lost 109 people this monsoon and suffered a loss of over Rs 883 crore. According to the State Emergency Operations Centre (SEOC), 22 of these deaths were in flash floods. Thirteen fell to their death, 11 drowned and six were killed by snake bites. As many as 45 people have died in accidents during the ongoing monsoon season, says the report.
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