Kishtwar/Jammu, Aug 15: Braving intermittent rains and treacherous terrain, rescue teams on Friday intensified their efforts to search for survivors in Chisoti village of Jammu and Kashmir’s Kishtwar district, a day after a devastating cloudburst triggered flash floods that swept away lives, homes, and entire sections of the annual Machail Mata pilgrimage route. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah put the official death toll at 60, with scores still missing.
The disaster struck around 12:25 pm on Thursday, flattening a bustling makeshift market, a langar site, and a security outpost in the last motorable village on the pilgrimage route. The deluge also damaged 16 residential houses, three temples, four water mills, government buildings, a 30-metre span bridge, and more than a dozen vehicles. The 8.5-km trek to the 9,500-foot shrine begins from Chisoti, which had been thronged by devotees since the yatra began on July 25.
According to officials, 46 bodies, including those of two CISF personnel, were recovered on Thursday itself. By Friday, the toll rose to 60. Thirty victims have been identified and handed over to their families. At least 167 injured have been rescued, while 69 others remain missing, as reported by their relatives.
Rescue Efforts Amid Rains
Operations, suspended late Thursday night, resumed at first light despite poor weather. Police, Army, NDRF, SDRF, Rashtriya Rifles troops, and local volunteers worked with earth-movers to clear boulders, uprooted trees, and collapsed electric poles. The rains paused briefly around 7 am, allowing intensified search efforts before another 20-minute downpour at 11:15 am slowed progress.
More than a dozen heavy machines and multiple NDRF teams equipped with specialised tools are now on site. Five Army columns — around 300 troops — along with medical detachments of the White Knight Corps are operating in coordination with civilian agencies. Helicopters could not be deployed due to bad weather, forcing all reinforcements to reach by road.
Jammu Divisional Commissioner Ramesh Kumar and IGP Jammu Bhim Sen Tuti reviewed the situation on the ground, while Kishtwar Deputy Commissioner Pankaj Kumar Sharma and SSP Naresh Singh have been camping in the disaster zone since Thursday.
Leaders’ Response
Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke with CM Omar Abdullah and Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, assuring all possible assistance. In his Independence Day address at Srinagar’s Bakshi Stadium, Abdullah said, “We will have to find out if there were any lapses by the administration, because we already had a weather forecast for heavy rains and flash floods. Could we have taken more steps to save precious lives? We have to make ourselves accountable.”
Communication & Relief Challenges
Ahead of the affected belt lie two villages — Machail and Hamori — where hundreds are stranded with no communication, as power cuts have drained mobile batteries. A control room-cum-help desk has been set up at Padder, 15 km from Chisoti, with six dedicated phone lines for families seeking information.
Medical Support
The J&K health department has bolstered facilities in Kishtwar and Padder. Sixty-five ambulances from various agencies have been deployed. Additional surgeons and anaesthetists from GMC Doda have been sent to Kishtwar’s district hospital, and a team of specialist doctors from PGI Chandigarh is en route to GMC Jammu to support critical-care needs.
Scene of Destruction
Videos from the site show torrents of mud and debris tearing through slopes, folding houses like paper and sweeping away vehicles into the Chenab River. Survivors recount how the “entire hill came down” within minutes, burying pilgrims and locals under metres of mud and stone.
The tragedy comes just nine days after flash floods hit Uttarkashi’s Dharali village in Uttarakhand, underscoring the vulnerability of Himalayan settlements to sudden weather disasters.
Search operations in Chisoti are expected to continue into the weekend, with officials cautioning that the chances of finding more survivors are diminishing with each passing hour.
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