SRINAGAR: Four people drowned and one is feared dead in separate incidents after they fell into the swollen water bodies after heavy rainfall here, officials said on Tuesday.
The rainfall also triggered landslides at multiple places between Ramban and Banihal along the 270-km Jammu-Srinagar national highway which remained closed for vehicular traffic for the second day, the officials said.
Mohd Shafi (65) and Mumira Bano (17) accidentally fell into the fast-flowing waters while crossing the Deval and Dunga streams in Reasi, officials said. Shafi’s body was retrieved from the river, and efforts are on to locate Bano who had come from Gool to attend a marriage function in the village
Kaushal Kumar drowned while crossing a stream at Gadhi Garh in the outskirts of Jammu city. The In Doda district, the body of Firdous Ahmad (13), a resident of Mallan-Dessa, was fished out from Kund Nallah on Tuesday morning. He was crossing the stream when he was swept away by the strong current, they said.
In another incident, the body of Yaqood Mir (13) was retrieved from a river after he was hit by a rolling boulder from a hillock near his house in Karool area of Ramban, the officials said.
In the Poonch district, four school children and two women were rescued by locals after they were left stranded due to flash floods in a stream when they were attempting to cross at Kala Moda village in the Mendhar area on Monday evening, they said.
With the improvement in weather conditions on Tuesday, the officials said the restoration work on the Jammu-Srinagar national highway was intensified to ensure its early opening for vehicular traffic.
The traffic on the 270-km highway, the only all-weather road linking Kashmir with the rest of the country, was suspended from both the twin capital cities of Jammu and Srinagar on Monday following landslides, mudslides and shooting stones at several places including Mehar, Panthiyal, Moum Passi and Kishtwari Pather.
