Three drown, 2 feared dead after landslides, heavy rainfall in parts of Jammu

Jammu: Three people died, and two are feared dead in separate incidents after they fell into the swollen streams due to multiple landslides between the Ramban and Banihal stretch, officials said on Tuesday.

Mohd Shafi (65) and Mumira Bano (17) accidentally fell into the fast-flowing waters on Monday while crossing the Deval and Dunga streams in Reasi, officials said.

Shafi’s body was retrieved from the river, and efforts are being made to locate Bano, who had come to attend a marriage function in Mahore in Reasi, they said.

Meanwhile, another man, K K Sharma drowned while crossing a stream at Gadhi Garh in Jammu. The State Disaster Response Force and local volunteers are searching for his body, the officials said.

In Doda district, the body of Firdous Ahmad (13), a resident of Mallan-Dessa, was fished out from Kund Nallah on Tuesday morning. He was crossing the stream when he was swept away by the strong currents of the river, they said.

In another incident, the body of Yaqood Mir (13), a resident of Karool, was fished out from a river after he was hit by a rolling boulder from a hillock in the Karool area of Ramban district, the officials said.

Heavy rains lashed wide parts of Jammu and Kashmir over the past couple of days, triggering landslides at many places and raising the level of water bodies. At least two dozen residential houses were damaged in Kishtwar and Ramban districts earlier.

In the Poonch district, four schoolchildren and two women were rescued by locals after they were left stranded due to flash floods as they attempted to cross a stream at Kalar Moda oda village in the Mendhar area on Monday evening, they said. 

With the improvement in weather conditions on Tuesday, the officials said the restoration work on the Jammu-Srinagar national highway was intensified. However, the highway remains closed.

The traffic on the 270-km highway, the only all-weather road linking Kashmir with the rest of the country, was suspended from both the twin capital cities of Jammu and Srinagar after landslides, mudslides and shooting stones blocked the highway at several places including Mehar, Panthiyal, Moum Passi and Kishtwari Pather.