Himachal cloudburst: Rescue ops underway; hunt for 36 missing continues in Rampur's Samej

Rampur (Himachal Pradesh), Aug 04: The Indian Army continues its efforts in rescue and restoration in the areas affected by the cloudburst that occurred on Thursday in Rampur's Samej.

The Army has established temporary bridges to establish connectivity between areas cut off to facilitate rescue operations.

Teams of NDRF, SDRF, Home Guard, and CISF have been coordinating to carry out the rescue and search operation.

The Home Guard Commandant, RP Nepta, informed ANI about the rescue operation that recommenced at 7 am in Rampur's Samej. He stated that five JCBs have been deployed today and various teams have been trying to coordinate to recover the maximum number of bodies.

"It is the fourth day today. Yesterday there was a review meeting. Today, we will work on war footing. Five JCBs have been deployed here. Task forces have been assigned different roles here. The search operation commenced at 7 am today. I am hoping that we will recover bodies today. Local people have told us where we can possibly find bodies. We will conduct search operations over there as well. We are also building a bridge," said the Home Guard Commandant.

"NDRF, CISF, Army, and Home Guard teams have reached. We are hoping that the maximum number of bodies will be recovered today. The three bodies that have been recovered have not been identified yet. That is why we are showing those bodies to people. We are also providing relief to people. 36 people are missing here," he added further.

Himachal Pradesh minister Vikramaditya Singh said on Saturday that around 50 people are feared dead in the affected areas and the official number can only be declared after official confirmation and completion of rescue operations.

Singh also said that the topmost priority of the state government is to retrieve the bodies and restore connectivity in the affected areas of the state as soon as possible.