5 more bodies found in rain-ravaged Chamoli, death toll rises to 7, 2 missing
Gopeshwar (U'khand): Five more bodies were found from the rain-ravaged villages in Uttarakhand's Chamoli district on Friday as rescue teams dug through debris and waded through sludge in search of the missing.
With this, the death toll due to landslides and flooding in the area has climbed to seven. Two bodies were found on Thursday, officials said.
As rescuers pulled out the bodies, the family members of the victims broke down.
Four of the five bodies were found from Kuntari Laga Phali village on Friday and one was pulled out of the rubble in neighbouring Kuntari Laga Sarpani, the State Emergency Operation Centre (SEOC) in Dehradun said.
Landslides and flooding triggered by heavy rain hit four villages -- Kuntari Laga Phali, Kuntari Laga Sarpani, Sera and Dhurma -- in Chamoli's Nandanagar area, about 260 km from state capital Dehradun and 50 km from the Chamoli district headquarters at Gopeshwar, on Thursday.
A total of 45 houses and 15 cowsheds were damaged in the incidents.
Nandanagar is already reeling from land subsidence.
The bodies found from Kuntari Laga Phali were identified as those of Deveshwari Devi (65), Kanta Devi (38) and her sons Vikas and Vishal, both aged 10. Kanta Devi's husband, Kunwar Singh (42), was rescued alive miraculously 16 hours after the incident on Thursday evening.
The body found from Kuntari Laga Sarpani was identified as that of Bhaga Devi (65).
Two persons are still missing in Dhurma and the search continues for them.
Chamoli District Magistrate Sandeep Tiwari is in Nandanagar to oversee the search-and-rescue operations.
On Thursday, 12 people were injured, including five rescued alive from Kuntari Laga Phali and Dhurma. Those seriously injured are undergoing treatment at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Rishikesh, officials said.
They said 95 people have been shifted to the relief camps set up at Maria Ashram and Gala Godown with adequate supply of food and medicines.