August 7, 2010 6:06 PM

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Massive relief & rescue operation underway at Leh; cloudburst death toll rises to 130, over 600 missing

In Jammu and Kashmir, a massive relief operation is on in Leh and other areas of the high altitutde terrain devasted by cloudburst with the death toll going up to 130. Over 600 are still missing as rescue workers wade through the rubble of the building collapsed in the tragedy to pull out any survivors. A transport aircraft of the IAF carrying relief material, including blankets, dry food and medicine for the the affected people landed there today. A defence spokesman said at least 370 people were injured as armed forces are engaged in massive releif and rescue operations.State Police Chief Kuldeep Khoda said, the number of missing is yet to be ascertained and the toll may go up. Sources fear that the death toll could cross over 500 as several remote villages are yet to be accessed by rescue teams.A three-member Central team comprising Farooq Abdullah, Ghulam Nabi Azad and Prithviraj Chavan has arrived in Leh to make an on the spot assessment of the situation. A team of 140 peronnel of the National Disaster Relief Force alongwith doctors and para-medical staff are accompanying them.Reports of the disaster are still pouring in. A small village before Choglumsur, which bore the brunt of the incessant rains, was completely wiped out. Over 200 people are still reported to be missing from there. A contractor told senior state administration officials that 150 labourers employed by him are missing from Shyong village.The colony was set up along Indus river and the officials feared that many huts would have been washed away in the flash floods.Authorities said that the Army also had suffered losses in Turtuk area. Some of the villages along the Chang La pass, world's second highest motorable road, are believed to have been washed away in the torrential rains.Army spokesman Colonel J S Brar said among the injured, 300 have been treated. The other injured are treated in army hospital.He said 31 Army jawans of the 15th Battalion of the Bihar Regiment including 3 JCOs are still missing. He said a body has been found. Brar said rescue operations which had slowed down due to heavy rains have picked up again. Police, Indo-Tibetan Border Police Force (ITBP) and civil administration are jointly engaged in the rescue operation. Among the survivors of the cloudburst are labourers from Chhatisgarh working mainly in projects of the Border Roads Organisation and various other infrastructure development programmes there. 70 of the injured are these labourers. The defence spokesman said adequate number of aircraft and helicopters were available at Kargil, Chandigarh and Udhampur to move to Leh. He said,the IAF's base there is fully geared up for casualty evacuation and rescue operations. Air Force has opened a disaster management cell at Chandigarh.DRDO scientist and Disaster response team member W Selvamurthy said, it is a very unusual phenomenon in this area because Ladakh is a barren desert. It hardly rains there, he said.Leh Administration has set up a 24 hour Helpline to provide any information about the incident. The telephone numbers are 09906990787 and 09906990835.

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