Uttarkashi floods: 190 people rescued; 200-member Army team leads massive mission

The ancient Kalp Kedar temple here was buried in the debris brought over by the flash flood in the Kheer Ganga on Tuesday.

The temple remained buried under ground for many years, possibly due to a previous disaster, with only its tip visible over ground.

Built in the Kature style, the architecture of the Shiva temple is similar to that of Kedarnath Dham.

An excavation led to its discovery in 1945. After digging several feet underground, an ancient Shiva temple was found whose structure was similar to Kedarnath temple.

The temple was below the ground level and devotees had to go down to offer prayers in the temple. People say that some water from the Kheer Ganga would often drift onto the “Shivling” installed in the sanctum sanctorum of the temple and a path had been created for it. There are stone carvings outside the temple.

The “Shivling” of the sanctum sanctorum is shaped like the back of Nandi, just like in Kedarnath temple.

On receiving the information about the disaster, the Army reached the spot first and immediately started relief and rescue operations. As the Army's Harshil camp is only four kilometers away from the site of the incident, about 150 personnel reached there in just 10 minutes and rescued 20 people.

At many places, Army personnel pulled people out with the help of ropes.

In a video uploaded by the Army on social media, debris is seen everywhere which is still slowly flowing. An Army officer said that people have been asked to stay away from the disaster-hit Dharali for the time being.

According to officials, apart from Dharali, another cloudburst incident has occurred near the Army camp in Harshil. However, no information has been received about any damage there.

SDRF sources said that a team of 50 soldiers is also engaged in relief and rescue operations with their necessary equipment like victim locating camera, cutting tools, and rotary hammer.

The NDRF has decided to deploy its first-ever team of cadaver dogs to help locate those feared dead in the Dharali mudslide. A pair of these dogs will be airlifted from Delhi even as three teams of the force, comprising 35 rescuers in each, have been rushed to the incident site from various locations in the state.

Two more NDRF teams are awaiting airlift from the Dehradun airport.

A senior officer of the federal contingency force told PTI that cadaver dogs are being deployed in Uttarkashi to find bodies possibly buried beneath debris and slush, to ensure that the families of the victims can get closure.

In addition to cadaver dogs, regular dogs who can sniff and detect survivors buried under mud and slush are also being deployed, he said.

The Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), which has battalion bases in Uttarakhand's Matli and Mahidanada as part of its deployment to guard the India-China LAC, has also sent about 100 personnel for rescue operations and to assist the state administration.

Around 37 villagers, including 11 women and four children, were rescued from the area and evacuated to the ITBP border post named Kopang, a senior officer of the force said.

The NDRF has trained about half a dozen cadaver dogs, primarily from the Belgian Malinois and Labrador breeds. For their training, the force procured a special scent from abroad that smells akin to the odour emitted by a dead body.

“For all these years, the NDRF focused on its mandate of saving lives. Utilising the golden hour of finding life during a disaster has been the guiding principle of the rescuers, and hence, finding the dead or mortal remains was not a priority,” a senior officer had recently told PTI.

However, the force has also been part of operations where NDRF personnel are tasked to retrieve bodies from under the debris, like in the aftermath of a landslide or train, or road accident, he said.

Finding bodies or human remains is important to ensure closure to the families and near and dear ones of the victims, the officer had said.

Various videos on social media showed five to ten-metre high waves carrying tonnes of rubble and hitting a row of houses, hotels and other buildings which collapsed on people scampering to safety.

Many houses and hotels were completely swamped by debris due to the floods, while only the red and green tin roofs of some tall hotels were visible.

In a video, a car was seen speeding and finally disappearing into the waves that overtook it.

People of Mukhba village, famous as the maternal home of Mother Ganga, located in front of Dharali, also started screaming on seeing this heart-rending scene and started praying to God for protection.

Sixty-year-old Subhash Chandra Semwal, a resident of Mukhba village and an eyewitness, said that he had never seen such a horrific scene in his life.

He said that in the afternoon, he heard the sound of water and stones flowing at a high speed, following which he and other members of his family came out.

"When we saw a huge amount of water flowing down in Kheer Ganga, we all panicked. Then we blew whistles to alert the people living in Dharali market and shouted at them to run away from there," he said.

With teary eyes, Semwal said that after hearing their voices, many people ran out of the hotel but the rushing flood waters overtook them and they were swept away.

In another video of the incident, panic-stricken people are heard gasping for breath and trying desperately to call their relatives in affected areas to find out if they are alright. A voice is also heard in the video, "Everything is over".

Union Home Minister Amit Shah has spoken to CM Pushkar Singh Dhami and ordered the dispatch of seven rescue teams (3 ITBP and 4 NDRF) to assist the affected people.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh added that the Centre and the state government are working in tandem, taking all possible measures to save precious lives.

“Have been seeing disturbing visuals from Uttarkashi (Uttarakhand) on the devastation caused by flash floods. Praying for the well-being of the people affected by the tragedy...,” he wrote on X.

Wednesday (August 6) might not bring much relief to Uttarakhand either. The Meteorological department has put out an orange alert for heavy rain for seven districts, including Nainital, Champawat, Udham Singh Nagar, Bageshwar, Pauri Tehri, Haridwar and Dehradun.

Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, who was in Andhra Pradesh, cancelled his trip to return to Dehradun. He said he is constantly in touch with senior officials and the situation is being closely monitored.

“The news of heavy losses due to cloudburst in Dharali (Uttarkashi) area is extremely sad and painful. SDRF, NDRF, district administration and other related teams are engaged on war footing in relief and rescue operations,” he said in a post on X.

No stone is being left unturned in providing assistance to the people, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a post on X.

"I express my condolences to the people affected by this tragedy in Dharali, Uttarkashi. Along with this, I pray for the well-being of all the victims. I have spoken to Chief Minister Pushkar Dhami ji and obtained information about the situation. Under the supervision of the state government, relief and rescue teams are engaged in every possible effort,” he said.