At least 50 members of a marriage party, including the bridegroom were feared dead in Rajouri district of Jammu division when the bus carrying them fell into a swollen river on Thursday.
Most of the rivers and streams are flowing above the danger mark due to heavy rain and the State Government has requisitioned services of the Indian Army, police and paramilitary forces to extend relief to the affected population.
Talking about the bus tragedy, a police spokesman said: “A 52-seater bus bearing the registration No: JK02AK 9075 was going from Rajpur Kamila towards lam when it reached a causeway. However, it could not negotiate the road due to the flash floods and it overturned and fell into the fast flowing river. Three persons survived and the rest of the passengers of the bus have not been traced till now.”
Police said rescue operations were hampered due to the fast flowing currents. Eyewitnesses claimed that the bus was overloaded and more than 70 people were in it when the mishap occurred. One of the survivors, who claimed that he was hanging behind the bus, said he jumped before the bus overturned and managed to survive.
The bridegroom identified as Jaswinder Singh was travelling in a separate car but before crossing the causeway he too joined the marriage party in the bus and was washed away in the flash flood.
Meanwhile, in Jammu and Kathua districts, life was thrown out of gear due to bad weather conditions, incessant rain, power outages and disrupted water supply.
Teams of the State Disaster Response Force and NDRF personnel rushed to the worst-affected areas in the State to shift people to safer places and relief centres set up by the State Government.
Traffic on the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway also remained disrupted following landslides and falling boulders at several places in Ramban area, while the majority of the roads in Doda, Kishtwar, Rajouri, Poonch, Reasi were badly damaged due to torrential rains in the last 72 hours.
As a precautionary measure the State Government has closed down all the State-run and private school/colleges till September 7 after the Met Department predicted that heavy rains would continue till Saturday.
The yatra along the Vaishno Devi trek was also suspended following reports of landslides along the 13-km long track. The Army has launched operation ‘Megh Rahat’, to rescue civilians.
According to a Defence spokesman, 250 civilians have been rescued in the last 48 hours from Darshal, Potha, Daraba, Mangana, Darangala, Mandi Nala, Thanamandi and Saujian in Rajouri and Poonch districts. “Search and rescue operations are in full swing and the Army is going all out to save lives of citizens in these areas,” the spokesman said.
Some of the vital bridges connecting the main city centres in these districts were washed away or suffered damage due to the flash floods. Flood protection works executed by the Irrigation and Flood Control Department caved in at several places along the banks of the Chenab in Reasi, Akhnoor, Tawi River in Jammu and Suran Nullah in Poonch.
Several multi-storey buildings and other structures were also washed away by the constantly rising water levels. As per rough estimates, over 150 structures have suffered damage due to the floods.