Chositi (Jammu): Heart-wrenching scenes of destruction and grief unfolded at Chositi village in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kishtwar district on Thursday as rescue teams dug through mud and debris to retrieve bodies and save survivors after a massive cloudburst triggered flash floods and landslides in the remote Himalayan region.
At least 46 people, including two CISF personnel, were killed in the disaster, officials confirmed. The toll is expected to rise as more people remain trapped. Over 160 people have been rescued so far, with 38 reported to be in serious condition.
Blood-stained bodies, mud-filled lungs, shattered ribs, and wounds packed with stones marked the devastating injuries suffered by villagers, pilgrims, and security personnel caught in the deluge. Locals, Army personnel, and police carried the injured on their backs across the treacherous, slush-covered terrain to hospitals.
“The catastrophe is widespread in Chositi, the base camp for the Machail Yatra. You can see devastation, deaths and injuries everywhere. It is the worst situation, and the death toll could rise,” said BJP leader and Leader of Opposition in the J&K Assembly Sunil Sharma.
Families combed through the wreckage in a desperate search for missing relatives. Bodies of residents and pilgrims were lined up on the roadside, covered in white shrouds. Kishtwar MLA Shugan Parihar, consoling bereaved women and children, called it an “unbearable situation” and appealed for faster ambulance services.
Hospitals were overwhelmed, with patients being treated on floors as beds ran out. Medical teams from across Paddar and Kishtwar rushed to Atholi Hospital, where victims arrived in ambulances, private vehicles, and even tractors. “Most have severe injuries — some to the chest, some on the head, others on the legs,” medical staff said, adding that sand and mud had lodged deep in many patients’ lungs and wounds.
The disaster struck between 12 noon and 1 pm when Chositi, bustling with pilgrims for the annual Machail Mata Yatra, was hit by flash floods, mudslides, and debris flows. Homes, shops, and vehicles were buried; a security camp and community kitchen for devotees were washed away. A pilgrim from Jammu recounted: “It was a sudden cloudburst… Within minutes, langar disappeared.”
The floodwaters uprooted massive trees, scattering them across a 500-metre stretch. Remarkably, a temple at the heart of the flooded zone survived.
Locals and nurses brought clean clothes for the mud-soaked injured as officials appealed for supplies. Authorities have banned movement in unsafe areas and urged people to use designated helpline numbers for missing relatives.
DIG Doda-Kishtwar Range Shridhar Patil said coordinated rescue and relief efforts were underway. Chositi, located about 90 km from Kishtwar town, is the last motorable point before the 8.5-km trek to the Machail Mata shrine. This year’s pilgrimage began on July 25 and was scheduled to end on September 5.
The tragedy comes just over a week after flash floods devastated Uttarakhand’s Uttarkashi district, leaving 68 people missing — underscoring the growing frequency and intensity of extreme weather events in the Himalayan belt.