Chisoti: Death Toll Rises to 65 as Rescue Operations Continue in Kishtwar Cloudburst
Two more bodies were recovered in Chisoti, a village in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kishtwar district hit by a devastating cloudburst, on Tuesday, bringing the death toll to 65, officials said. Search operations on the sixth day were extended to cover a wider area.
The day began with the discovery of a mutilated female body downstream, while sniffer dogs helped locate a lower body part of another victim beneath the debris of a collapsed house. Officials said an additional body and two body parts were recovered from different locations during the day. However, these parts are suspected to belong to bodies already recovered and will be sent for DNA testing.
Rescue teams are working across multiple locations, particularly near the major impact zone around a community kitchen site, using heavy machinery—including earth movers—and sniffer dogs to sift through the rubble.
The cloudburst struck Chisoti, the last motorable village en route to the Machail Mata temple, on August 14, leaving extensive destruction in its wake. Among the 65 deceased are three CISF personnel and one Special Police Officer (SPO) of the Jammu and Kashmir Police.
Authorities reported that 167 people have been rescued so far, while 39 remain missing following a recent revision of the list on Monday.
Deputy Superintendent of Police, SDRF, Masoof Ahmad Mirza, said four teams are conducting searches along both sides of the stream from Chisoti to Gulabgarh, a 22-km stretch. “The rescue and relief operation is ongoing on a war footing. The cloudburst impacted a vast area, which is why the operations are taking time. We have cleared a large area upstream and are now focusing downstream,” he added.
Principal Secretary, Home, Chandraker Bharti, visited the site following an order from Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, which directed the posting of 10 IAS and IPS officers over the next eight days to supervise relief and rescue operations.
The Army’s Jammu-based White Knight Corps, in a social media post on Monday, said five relief columns are engaged in rescue and relief efforts, with additional medical teams deployed to strengthen operations.
The flash floods caused by the cloudburst devastated the village, flattening a makeshift market, a langar site for the annual Machail Mata yatra, 16 houses and government buildings, three temples, four water mills, a 30-metre-long bridge, and over a dozen vehicles.
Joint teams from the police, Army, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), CISF, Border Roads Organisation (BRO), civil administration, and local volunteers continue to work on rescue operations. Army engineers built a Bailey bridge over the Chisoti nullah on Sunday, restoring vital connectivity to the village and the Machail Mata shrine. Two all-terrain vehicles were also deployed to intensify relief efforts.
Rescuers carried out over half a dozen controlled explosions in the past three days to remove large boulders obstructing the search.
The annual Machail Mata yatra, which began on July 25 and was scheduled to conclude on September 5, has been suspended for the sixth consecutive day. Authorities, however, plan to allow a group of devotees carrying the ‘Charri’ from Jammu to reach the shrine on August 21 or 22. The 8.5-km trek to the 9,500-foot-high shrine begins at Chisoti, approximately 90 km from Kishtwar town.
