The people of Leh and its neighbourhood continued to cremate or bury their dead on Monday and simultaneously count more victims as the rescuers were able to retrieve more bodies from under the rubble of flattened homes and other buildings or those overwhelmed by heaps of mud and slush.
The last count was 165 dead including 15 of those victims who could not be identified but were buried or cremated on the basis of the signs obtainable from their person indicating their faith.
Meanwhile, a fresh cloudburst in Kargil area on Saturday has cut off many villages.
Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah visited Leh devastated in last week’s flash floods and mudslides triggered by a cloudburst to oversee rescue and relief operations underway in the hilly region. It was his second visit since the natural catastrophe struck Leh and its neighbourhood which has also left more than 500 injured whereas an equal number of people, including many Army and ITBP personnel and two French nationals, are still missing. Dozens of homes and government buildings were flattened in the flash floods or in the impact of mudslides in the adjoining areas also, some of which have been inaccessible because of severe road connectivity.
While the rescue and relief work in Leh and some adjoining areas has been intensified following the arrival of equipment and machinery such as heavy duty bulldozers and JCBs required to clear the rubble, the authorities have also turned to other parts of Ladakh affected by the natural fury. The IAF tried to airdrop essential items including tents and clothing in the villages affected by the cloudburst and flash floods as roads were badly damaged. A Spanish tourist was evacuated by the IAF. Sniffer dogs, which arrived in Leh by an IAF transport aircraft earlier have also been pressed into service to look for survivors.
The Army, Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), General Reserve Engineer Force (GREF), the police and civilian authorities were trying hard to remove the piles of mud and slush which had buried villages in the worst-battered Choglusmar belt as well as to restore telephone links, officials said.
According to Lt. Col. J.S. Brar, Northern Command spokesperson, the Army has launched two bridges in the area whereas 41 columns of troops were augmented on Monday in the ongoing relief and rescue operations.
In addition, Army troops are assisting Border Roads Organisation in creating diversions at several damaged bridge sites on National Hightway-1D (Leh-Manali). The places where the bridges were launched are Phyang and Choglamsar. ITBP is helping plug the breaches to make NH-1A’s Srinagar-Kargil and Kargil-Leh stretches functional.