A victim of the cloudburst, her story of being lost and eventually found was a morale booster for ITBP personnel. As soon as ITBP Deputy Commandant (engineering) Raj Kumar opened the door of his house in the ITBP campus, gushing water from the cloudburst just swept him away.|
He held on to his daughter and his wife but the nature's fury was too much for him. He could not cling on to his wife and child for long as he fought through the slush and boulders that has claimed 147 lives so far.
Though he somehow managed to get out, his family could not. A desperate search operation was launched by his colleagues and nobody could believe what they saw four hours after the calamity struck.
Shreejal was found neck deep in slush in one of the building in the campus. Her face was full of injuries but somehow she was lucky to be alive. Kumar's wife was also found over a km away from the campus covered in slush seven hours after she was swept away. She too had managed to escape the nature's fury.
ITBP DIG P K Dhasmana told PTI, "Though my men had started the relief and rescue operation within half an hour after the cloudburst, everyone were praying for Kumar's family. As soon as the news spread that they had been found, the morale went up."
The campus of the 24 Battalion of the force was struck by flashfloods. The once neatly decked areas housing officers, parks and playgrounds are covered with boulder and slush. The officers along with their families had managed to climb atop their houses and escaped the nature's wrath.
