‘Mountain came down’: Kishtwar survivors dig through rubble, search for loved ones

CHASOTI: A two-storey wooden home crumbled in seconds. Boulders roared down the hillside, mud and water swallowed fields at Chasoti village in J&K’s Kishtwar district. “It was as if mountain itself was coming down,” said 26-year-old arts student Piyra Singh, who fled into maize fields as his house collapsed behind him.By the time silence returned, his uncle and cousin were dead, two visiting pilgrims missing, and his family in shock. “My brother kept touching me, asking, ‘are you alive?’” Singh said.Chasoti is now rubble. Flash floods following a cloudburst killed Thursday at least 60 people, injured 160, and left up to 70 unaccounted for. Chief secretary Atul Dullo said 72 missing reports had been filed. MLA Sunil Sharma warned numbers could be higher.

Rescue workers pulled out four more bodies Saturday.Everywhere, grief hangs heavy. Pawan Kumar, a bulldozer driver from Rajouri, has been searching since Aug 14 for 14 relatives who came for the Mata Machail pilgrimage. “Many bodies have been pulled out,” he said, breaking down when one stretcher finally carried his mother’s remains.At a community kitchen, Jaffar Hussain of Doda described watching 30 people vanish in a matter of seconds.

“When I looked again, there was none,” he said. Such accounts fuel fears that actual missing numbers could cross official estimates.On Saturday morning, CM Omar Abdullah arrived to placate restless families demanding answers. “They have been waiting for two days. They want to know if their family members will come out alive or not,” he said, promising relentless search efforts. He pegged missing figures between 70 and 80.

“It will fluctuate a little, but I do not think the number will reach 500 or 1,000 as some are claiming,” he said.Rescue teams of SDRF and NDRF are digging through boulders with excavators while revenue officers note names of missing. Relatives wait at the edge, weeping. Politicians shuttle in and out.Union minister Jitendra Singh visited the injured at GMC Jammu. He said PM Narendra Modi is “personally monitoring” relief.

Sixty-seven patients were admitted, 15 discharged Saturday, leaving 52 under treatment. Singh announced an MP help-desk to provide food, medicines, and transport. “This was a natural calamity no one was prepared for,” he said.For survivors like Piyra Singh, life is upended. “Our homes are gone, our employment is gone, my uncle and cousin are dead,” he said. “I thought I will continue studying. But now I am burdened with responsibilities. I don’t know if we will live in this village now.”(inputs from Sanjay Khajuria in Jammu)