Chisoti: Braving heavy rains and treacherous terrain, rescuers continued a large-scale operation on Monday to locate those trapped under debris in the cloudburst-hit remote village of Chisoti in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kishtwar district, now in its fifth day, officials said.
Clad in raincoats, teams worked across multiple sites, focusing particularly on the hardest-hit area near a langar (community kitchen), using heavy machinery, earth movers, and sniffer dogs to sift through the rubble despite relentless downpours.
The cloudburst struck Chisoti, the last motorable village en route to the Machail Mata temple, on August 14, claiming 61 lives, including three CISF personnel and one Special Police Officer, and injuring over 100 others. After a recent revision, around 50 people remain missing.
The flash floods triggered by the deluge caused widespread devastation, destroying a makeshift market and a langar site for the annual Machail Mata yatra, damaging 16 houses and government buildings, three temples, four water mills, a 30-metre-long bridge, and over a dozen vehicles.
“Today marks the fifth day of the operation. Despite challenging weather and warnings of continued heavy rain, combined teams are working tirelessly to recover the remains of the missing,” said a CISF officer. Joint rescue teams comprising police, army, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), CISF, Border Roads Organisation (BRO), civil administration, and local volunteers are engaged in the mission.
On Sunday, army engineers constructed a Bailey bridge over Chisoti nullah, restoring vital connectivity to the village and the Machail Mata shrine. The army also deployed all-terrain vehicles to bolster rescue and relief efforts, officials said.
In the past two days, rescuers carried out about half a dozen controlled explosions 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 fifth consecutive day. The 8.5-km trek to the 9,500-foot-high shrine starts from Chisoti, located approximately 90 km from Kishtwar town.
Rescue teams continue to utilise over a dozen earth movers and other heavy machinery, while NDRF dog squads and additional resources are being mobilised to accelerate operations.
