Reasi / Ramban, Aug 30: At least 11 people died in the Reasi landslide and Ramban cloudburst on Friday night.
Seven members of a family, including a husband-wife duo and their five sons, lost their lives in a landslide at Baddar in the remote Mahore sub-division of Reasi district.
Officials said that the incident occurred on Friday night when a landslide hit the Baddar area and the house of Nazir Ahmad was buried under it.
“The kacha house was located at the slope of a hill where a landslide occurred, and the debris fell over it,” Police officials said. “Seven members of a family present inside the house were buried under the debris.”
The officials said that the people of the area launched a massive rescue operation that was later joined by Police teams, and all bodies of all seven persons were taken out of the debris.
They identified the deceased as Nazir Ahmad, 41, son of Bhar Din, and his wife, Wazira Bano, 35, as well as their five sons: Bilal Ahmad, 12, Muhammad Mustafa, 10, Muhammad Adil, 8, Muhammad Mubarakh, 6, and Waseem Ahmad, 4.
Meanwhile, four people, including a girl, died while a woman went missing after a cloudburst triggered landslides that damaged their residential houses in Drubla near Nathna, Gadigarh area of Rajgarh on Friday night.
Officials said that a cloudburst occurred in the Drubla, Nathna, and Gadigarh area of Rajgarh tehsil of Ramban district on Friday night, triggering landslides and flash floods on a steep mountain.
They said two residential houses were hit by the landslide and flash floods, resulting in five members of two families getting buried under the debris.
On getting information, Deputy Commissioner (DC) Ramban, Muhammad Alyas Khan, SSP Ramban Arun Gupta, and senior officers from the district administration, along with rescue teams, reached the spot on Saturday morning.
They said that after hectic efforts, four bodies were recovered from the debris and handed over to legal heirs for the last rites.
The DC Ramban and SSP Ramban, who are monitoring rescue and search operations at the spot, said that a large-scale rescue and search operation was underway to retrieve the body of a woman.
For this purpose Police, SDRF, CRPF, Army, and local volunteers are on the job.
Police identified the four deceased persons as Om Raj, 42, son of Raghunath of Banshara Rajgarh, Dwarka Nath, 59, son of Ram Chand of Gadigran Kumate Tehsil Rajgarh, Virta Devi, 29, daughter of Mohan Lal of Gadigran Kumate Rajgarh, and Ashwani Sharma, 27, son of Mohan Lal of Gadigran Kumate.
All four bodies were retrieved from the debris and handed over to the legal heirs.
Their last rites were performed in the presence of senior officers of the district administration.
Officials said Vidya Devi, 50, wife of Tarloki Nath of Gadigran Kumate tehsil of Rajgarh, is still missing.
Officials said three livestock and a cowshed, two government buildings, three water supply schemes, nine roads, and 346 electric poles also suffered damage due to a cloudburst in Rajgarh tehsil of Ramban district.
