Reuters
[Source: Reuters]
Rescuers battled heavy rain and blocked roads in India’s Himalayan state of Uttarakhand on Wednesday, after four deaths in sudden flooding and landslides the previous day left dozens missing and an entire village submerged under sludge.
Teams of army and disaster force rescuers used heavy machinery to shift boulders in the struggle to reach the village of Dharali, where homes and roads were submerged by a flood of water, mud and rocks, media and authorities said.
The Indian Army said 70 people were brought to safety on Wednesday, while the state’s Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami told news agency ANI about 130 were rescued the previous night.
Rescuers used a makeshift zipline to cross a violently gushing river, while others moved rocks and mud with their hands in the hunt for those buried under the sludge, television images showed.
“The number of missing persons is unknown. However the relief efforts have continued through the night,” rescue leader Colonel Harshavardhan said in a post on X from the Indian Army.
“We are trying to rescue people and take them to safety.”
Dharali, a hamlet of about 200 in the state’s Uttarkashi district standing more than 1,150 m (3,775 ft) above sea level, is a tourist spot and pit-stop for Hindu pilgrims climbing to the temple town of Gangotri.
Stream the best of Fiji on VITI+. Anytime. Anywhere.
