Death toll in Uttarakhand cloudburst rises to 10

The death toll in a cloudburst that wreaked havock in Uttarakhand's Pithoragarh district two days ago has risen to 10 with the recovery of three more bodies from a village on Wednesday, officials said.

Four bodies had been pulled out from the debris in Tanga village on Tuesday, Pithoragarh District Magistrate (DM) V K Jogdande said. Three bodies were recovered from the adjoining Gaila Pattharkot village on Monday.

Earlier in the day, the state emergency operation centre in Dehradun had said five bodies had been recovered in the village by Tuesday evening. However, the district administration later said four bodies were pulled out from the rubble in the village on Tuesday, followed by three on Wednesday.

Eleven people had gone missing after the cloudburst hit around 3.40 am on Monday, the DM said.

The bodies recovered so far have been identified as those of Madhav Singh (70), his wife Tulsi Devi (60), their son Ganesh Singh (40), his wife Hira Devi (30), their son Divyanshu (12), Roshan Kumar (17) and Latika (10).

A search was underway for another missing person, Jogdande said.

A total of four villages were affected by the cloudburst -- Gaila Pattharkot, Tanga, Bata and Sirtaul.

Damage to five houses and livestock casualties were reported from Bata and Sirtaul.