Kishtwar Cloudburst: A Widow's Agonizing Wait For Missing Son

(MENAFN- Kashmir Observer) Srinagar- Six days after a cloudburst devastated the remote village of Chisoti in Jammu and Kashmir's Kishtwar district, rescue teams are still combing through mud and debris for dozens reported missing. For one widow, the wait has become unbearable as she clings to hope of seeing her only son, daughter-in-law and young grandson alive.

The tragedy struck on August 14, when flash floods triggered by the cloudburst swept through Chisoti, the last motorable village on the route to the Machail Mata shrine. So far, 65 people have been confirmed dead and 167 rescued. At least 39 others are still missing.

At her modest home in Digiana, on the outskirts of Jammu city-nearly 300 km away from the disaster site-the elderly woman sits surrounded by her four daughters, her eyes fixed on the door with an unspoken prayer on her lips. She has refused food for days, waiting for news about her son Sahil Sharma (33), his wife Lovely (32) and their 11-year-old son, Raghav.

“My mother is not in a position to speak to anyone. She keeps praying and hasn't eaten. We still believe they will return,” said Suman, one of her daughters.

Suman recalled how her younger brother had left for the yatra with his family despite her concerns over the weather.“Why was the pilgrimage not stopped, knowing the forecast? We lost our father just a year and a half ago. Now this...” she said, breaking down.

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She remembered her last conversation with Sahil on the eve of Raksha Bandhan.“I told him I wouldn't visit because of my mother-in-law's death. Instead, I promised to come on Janmashtami. I never imagined those would be my last words to him,” she whispered, wiping away her tears.

Family members rushed to Chisoti after the disaster, only to hear from survivors that Sahil and his family were last seen near a bridge moments before the deluge struck. Since then, every new photograph of recovered bodies sent for identification feels like another blow.

“Every time a picture comes, it feels like the ground is slipping beneath my feet. I can only pray for their safe return,” said Sahil's brother-in-law.

Officials overseeing the rescue operation have assured that the search will continue until the last missing person is found. But for families like Sahil's, the days of silence have turned into a test of faith.

“For us, hope is the only strength left,” Suman said.

Death Toll Climbs To 64

Body of a woman was recovered in this cloudburst-hit village in Jammu and Kashmir's Kishtwar district, taking the death toll to 64, officials said, as the extensive rescue and relief operation entered the sixth day on Tuesday.

The decomposed body was sighted downstream and subsequently recovered by the rescuers this morning amid intensified search operation with the improvement in the weather, the officials said.

Sniffer dogs also helped recover a lower body part of another victim under the debris of a collapsed house but the officials said it is believed to be that of a person whose body was recovered on the first day of the tragedy.

The rescue teams are working at multiple locations, especially the major impact spot near a langar (community kitchen) site, sifting through the rubble using heavy machinery, including earth movers and sniffer dogs.

With the recovery of one more body, the death toll in the flash floods triggered by the cloudburst in Chisoti, the last motorable village en route to the Machail Mata temple, on August 14, has risen to 64.

The dead included three CISF personnel and one Special Police Officer (SPO) of J-K Police.

A total of 167 persons were rescued, while the number of missing persons has dropped to 39 after fresh revision of the list on Monday, the officials said.

Deputy Superintendent of Police, SDRF, Masoof Ahmad Mirza said the rescue and relief operation is going on at war footing and a team is being dispatched downstream to check the area.

“The rescue operation restarted this morning with the recovery of one more body. The impact area of the cloudburst is vast and so it is taking time. We have cleared a large area upstream and now we are sending a team downstream as well,” he said.

Army's Jammu-based White Knight Corps, in a post on X on Monday, said five relief columns of the force are engaged in the rescue and relief operations and efforts have been further intensified with additional medical teams deployed.

The flash-floods triggered by the cloudburst left a trail of destruction, flattening a makeshift market, a langar site for the annual Machail Mata yatra, damaging 16 houses and government buildings, three temples, four water mills, a 30-metre-long bridge, besides over a dozen vehicles.

The joint teams of police, army, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), CISF, Border Roads Organisation (BRO), civil administration, and local volunteers are engaged in the rescue efforts.

Army engineers on Sunday built a Bailey bridge over Chisoti nullah, providing much-needed connectivity to the village and the Machail Mata shrine. The Army has also inducted a couple of all-terrain vehicles as part of the efforts to intensify the rescue and relief operation.

The rescuers conducted over half a dozen controlled explosions in the past three days to blow up giant boulders hampering the search.

The annual Machail Mata yatra, which began on July 25 and was scheduled to conclude on September 5, remained suspended for the sixth consecutive day on Tuesday.

However, the authorities will allow a group of devotees carrying 'Charri' from Jammu and is expected to reach the shrine on August 21 or 22.

The 8.5-km trek to the 9,500-foot-high shrine starts from Chisoti, located about 90 km from Kishtwar town.

The rescuers are utilising over a dozen earth-movers and other heavy equipment, while the NDRF mobilised its resources, including dog squads, to speed up the rescue operation.

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