Srinagar, Jan 14, CNS
More than 38 hour long heavy snowfall and incessant rains unleashed havoc all across valley taking a heavy toll of lives and several impaired besides huge loss of livestock and house in various areas of Kashmir valley.
An army party Echo Company of 45 RR was hit by an avalanche in Maidan Beigh area of Machil sector close to the Line of Control (LoC) on Monday-Tuesday intervening night in which five army jawans were trapped under the snow. Rescue parties reached the spot and recovered bodies of five soldiers.
“We took out all the five jawans buried under the snow while four of them succumbed to their injuries,” Shriram Ambarker, SP, Kupwara, told.
Meanwhile, a Border Security Force (BSF) constable was killed after an avalanche hit the force's deployment on the LoC in Naugam sector on Monday evening, the paramilitary force said on Tuesday.
The incident took place around 8.30 pm after which a search and rescue operation was launched, the BSF said. Six out of the seven BSF personnel deployed in the area were safely rescued but one constable was trapped and he could not be revived despite efforts, the BSF said.
In another incident four members of a family among five persons were injured after avalanche hit Purana Tulail (PTL) area of Gurez sector on Monday evening and another civilian who was badly impaired in the avalanche in Purana Tulail (PTL) had died. The deceased was identified as Abdul Rehman Lone of PTL.
The injured were identified as Nazir Ahmad and Fatima. They were being treated at a health facility in PTL.
The bodies of those recovered on Tuesday, include the body of Ishtiyak Tikri, another son of the person Sadiq Tikri R/O Gagangeer, whose dead body was recovered on Monday, along with the dead body of his son Showkat Tikri. Another two persons, who were killed in the avalanche incident have been identified as Dawood Khushi and Mohammad Akbar Bhat, both residents of Gangangeer.
Several other people were injured in the incident, while six persons were rescued alive from under the snow, which are all undergoing treatment presently.
The rescue operation was jointly launched by police and army, they said. According to reports, another avalanche hit Khambiyal forest area of Dawar, causing damage a hotel near Tourist Reception Centre (TRC) Gurez.
The snow avalanches have also led to the killing of livestock with officials informing that 30 sheep were killed in Awoora area of Kupwara after they came under heavy snow.
Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Kupwara, Sriram Ambarkar Dinkar said that 30 sheep belonging to a shepherd were killed after coming under heavy snow in Awoora area.
It is worth to mention here that several roads connecting dozens of far-flung villages of north Kashmir including Kupwara-Machil, Kupwara-Karnah and Kupwara-Keran roads, connecting dozens of villages with district headquarters remained closed.
In Bandipora, several roads connecting far flung areas which include Gurez, Tragbal, Sirender, Koota Satri, Kudara, Chuntimulla and Ketsen remained closed. Several residential houses were also damaged in separate snow avalanches from last evening. Reports added that several cowsheds were partially damaged after heavy snowfall in Gurez area triggered avalanches in several villages.
Three residential houses and a cowshed were partially damaged in Bhat Mohalla area of Bagtore after minor avalanche hit the village yesterday, local sources said.
In another incident, three residential houses and a cowshed were damaged in Korakbal area of Gurez last night while in another incident two residential houses were partially damaged and six shops were completely damaged in Baduaab area of Tulail today morning.
An Army porter identified as Fakeer Khan, son of Gulzar Ahmad of Baduaab Tulail had also come under snow last evening near Baduaab. Khan as per officials was rescued by police and army and was shifted to a nearby health facility. He was working with 51 RR as porter, reports said.
Meanwhile, Army spokesman in a statement issued to said that a group of tourists were rescued by multiple search and rescue columns of the Fore & Fury Corps.
A group of tourists were stranded in bad weather while undertaking the annual ‘Chaddar Trek' on the frozen Zanskar River in Ladakh, Army spokesman said. “Responding swiftly to request received from the UT administration, columns were launched from two directions to reach the tourists who were stuck at Niraq Village along the Zanskar River.
Helicopters of the Army Aviation were also pressed into service for the purpose. Helicopters of the Army Aviation managed to land at a makeshift helipad in Niraq and inducted a column of Army personnel to coordinate the rescue operations.
An Army Medical Officer was also inducted to provide immediate medical aid to the tourists. Medicines, emergency rations and warm clothing was also inducted by the helicopters,” he added.
The statement further reads that six seriously ill tourists who were suffering from effects of frostbite and High Altitude Pulmonary Odema (HAPO) were evacuated by the helicopters to the Army medical facility in Leh.
Although Tuesday morning greeted valley people with a pleasant sunshine, but the overnight open skies, inducing a considerable dip in the temperature below the freezing point resulted in freezing of taps and pipes, while roads had become quite slippery to drive on. Meanwhile in upper reaches of Kulgam district, including Qazi Gund and Jawahar Tunnel area there was not let up in the snowfall throughout the day on Tuesday.
Srinagar received eight to ten inches of snow, where the day long snowfall without a let up created a havoc on roads as vehicles became difficult for the drives to control, resulting in huge traffic jams in the evening.
Many commuters were forced to abandon their vehicle and walk the distance on foot, as the roads became quite slippery despite continuous removal of snow from roads by the administration. Even as men and machinery was seen on their toes to deal with the situation, but despite the efforts of the administration to deal with the situation many areas in the city were waterlogged hampering the normal public movement. Till Tuesday afternoon authorities were unable to achieve any success to drain out the waterlogged area, which continued to remain submerged. People preferred to stay back home, while those who came out had to wade through water. Residency road and Maulana Azad roads remained partially submerged under water.
Upper reaches of Kupwara received the maximum Snowfall, resulting in the closure of Kupwara Karnah road. Sadhna Top in Karnah Tehsil of Tangdhar in Kupwara district recorded about three feet of snow, while as low lying areas in the region received up-to one and a half feet. Due to the unprecedented snowfall in the region, Karnah and Tangdhar area remained cut off from the district head quarter Kupwara, since the road remained closed for a third consecutive day on Tuesday.
Gulmarg and whole Peerpanchal region witnessed medium to heavy snowfall during the period, while authorities did not withdraw avalanche warning issued on Monday, given to the heavy snowfall in these areas.
In Budgam district all the link roads remained blocked with snow till Tuesday evening, as there was no effort visible from the administration towards removing of snow from these link roads. In Tangmarg area several houses are reported to have suffered damage to the heavy snowfall.
In Kangan area of Ganderbal district people said that no snow clearance operation was conducted by the administration, resulting in difficulty to vehicular movement on Kangan Sonmarg highway. Officials from beacon told CNS that their men and machinery is occupied with snow clearance in the upper reaches, where situation is more critical, while the officials from Roads and Buildings (R&B) department said that they have only one JCB and they are doing whatever they can with that one JCB.
Maenwhile Qazi Gund received 24 inches of snow, resulting in the closure of Srinagar Jammu highway, which was thrown open on Monday morning at 11 for one way traffic from Srinagar to Jammu, but with no let up in the snowfall in the day highway was gain closed for the traffic.
Officials said that from Banihal to Udhampur thousands of trucks and passenger vehicles are presently stranded, waiting for the highway to open. There was huge amount of snow on the highway in Banihal region, blocking the road, which authorities were in continuous effort of removing. On the other side in several areas of Ramban district landslides struck the area making the movement of vehicular traffic impossible.
Meanwhile Metrology department has predicted another two day long snowfall, beginning from 17th January, while light to moderate rainfall at isolated places in Jammu division on Friday and Saturday.
