SHIMLA: Two bodies have been recovered while 3 are still missing under the debris in Sirmauri Tal area of Paonta Sahib subdivision in Himachal Pradesh's Sirmaur district on Thursday.
Five members of a family from Sirmauri Tal village were missing after flash floods hit the area following a cloudburst at Malagi - Dadiyat and Aauli villages on Wednesday night around 8.30am.
District Administration and Police officials rescued 150 people during the night itself and shifted them to safer locations where arrangements for their food and shelter was made. Rescue operation was carried amid rainfall on Thursday and was halted after 10 feet of slush made the search for missing persons difficult and now rescue operation will resume on Friday morning.
All five missing persons belong to the family of Kuldeep Singh. Those missing include Jeeto Devi (55) wife of Kuldeep Singh, his daughter in law Rajni Devi (31) and his granddaughter Deepika (8). The bodies of Kuldeep Singh (62) and his grandson Nitesh (10) have been recovered.
Deputy Commissioner, Sirmaur, Sumit Khimta who visited the spot on Thursday morning said that the entire Sirmauri Tal area is covered under 10 feet of slush and incessant rainfall made the search and rescue operation difficult. He said that three poclain machines were pressed into service to remove the slush but in the heavy slush two of the machines got stuck in it. He said that one of the machines was pulled out of slush while effort is on to pull out the second machine.
He said that entire debris from the upper area got accumulated in the Sirmaur Tal area due to which extensive damage has been caused. He said that even the roads and retaining walls in the Paonta area have been damaged.
Khimta said that after seeing huge accumulation of slush making rescue difficult, the operation has been called off for the day and now it will resume on Friday morning. He said that so far two bodies of an elderly person and the girl have been recovered.
