E-Paper
Gaurikund landslide: Fourth body recovered, search on for 19 missing people
Search is on for the remaining 19 missing people who are presumed dead. Of the 23 people who were washed away, 17 were Nepalese
The Uttarakhand State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) on Thursday recovered the body of the fourth missing person from the August 3 Gaurikund landslide incident in which 23 people were washed away.
Search is on for the remaining 19 missing people who are presumed dead. Of the 23 people who were washed away, 17 were Nepalese.
SDRF media in-charge Lalita Negi said that rescue teams conducting the search operation recovered one more body downstream the Mandakini River on Thursday morning. “The body has been identified as Veer Bahadur, a Nepalese national,” she added
Teams involved in the search operation have been active at various locations downstream, including at Srinagar Dam (100km from the site of the landslide), as they suspect the victims may have been washed away afar due to the strong water current of the river, which has been in spate for over a week.
The SDRF is also using an underwater sonar system from a boat to track bodies in muddy waters, and also drones to trace the missing people.
Mandakini originates from the Chorabari glacier, about 1km above the Kedarnath temple. It is fed by Vasukiganga in Sonprayag, and joins Alakananda in Rudraprayag. Alakananda flows to Devprayag (via Srinagar) where it joins Bhagirathi to form the Ganga River.
Following the Gaurikund incident, the state government decided to conduct a multi-disciplinary survey of disaster-sensitive areas on the Char Dham route to prevent such incidents.
