60 people killed, more than 200 missing in floods and landslides in Indian Kashmir

Rescue workers in India’s illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) used shovels and earth movers to search for survivors under rocks and rubble on Friday, a day after flash floods triggered by heavy rains left at least 60 people dead and 200 missing.

Mudslides and floodwaters submerged the village of Chaswati on Thursday, sweeping away pilgrims who had gathered for lunch before heading up the hill to a popular religious site, the second such disaster in the Himalayas in less than a week.

“We heard a huge noise and then there was a flood and mudslide. People were screaming, and some of them fell into the Chenab River. Others were buried under the rubble,” said Rakesh Sharma, one of the injured pilgrims.

Bags, clothes and other belongings were strewn among broken electricity poles and mud on Friday, as rescue workers used ropes and crossed makeshift bridges to try to pull people out of the rubble.

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah told reporters on Friday that at least 60 people had died, more than 100 were injured and another 200 were missing.

The Himalayas are prone to floods and landslides, but some scientists say the intensity and frequency of these events are increasing due to climate change.

Thursday’s incident came a week after similar floods and mudslides engulfed an entire village in the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand.

“Nature is testing us. In the last few days, we have had to deal with landslides, cloudbursts and other natural disasters,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said at the start of a nearly two-hour speech on the country’s 79th Independence Day.

According to the India Meteorological Department, a cloudburst is a sudden, heavy downpour of more than 100 mm (4 inches) of rain in just one hour that can cause flash floods, landslides and destruction during the monsoon, especially in mountainous areas.

The Machhail Yatra is a popular pilgrimage to the high-altitude Himalayan shrine of Machhail Mata, one of the manifestations of Goddess Durga. Pilgrims travel to the temple from Chaswati, where the road for vehicles ends.