Day 7: Kishtwar toll at 65, as search for the remains of those missing continues

National National

Posted by AI on 2025-08-20 14:11:48 | Last Updated by AI on 2025-08-20 16:24:47

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65. That's the devastating death toll today in Jammu and Kashmir's Kishtwar district, a mountainous region in southern Jammu and Kashmir, as rescue workers continue to search for those missing in the region's recent devastating cloudburst. It's been seven straight days of searching through the sludge and debris left behind in the wake of the disaster, and today alone two more bodies have been recovered.

The cloudburst, which occurred just after midnight on August 8, caused devastating landslides and sent rivers cascading down hillsides in the Chositi village of Kishtwar, leaving nothing but destruction and tragedy in its wake.

Amid the chaos, local wildlife has been disrupted, with dozens of families of the nomadic Gujjar and Bakerwal communities migrating from the area, fearing further disaster and adverse living conditions.

"Where to go, where to go?", laments 55-year-old Gujjar nomadic tribesman, Mohammad Ratoo, who arrived in Jammu with his family, showing a CNN reporter that he was carrying most of his worldly possessions in a few baskets.

For those who have lived in the region for longer, local Hassan Khan says that the cloudburst took him by surprise: "I have never seen anything like this in my life. The rivers turned into monstrous beasts."

Khan, who has lived in Chositi for 20 years, says that he has never before experienced such a catastrophic disaster.

At this stage, there are more questions than answers. What caused this? Could it have been prevented? And how can we prepare for the future? These are the questions that the region's authorities and families of those affected by the disaster will be asking.

For now, the search efforts continue as survivors dig for hope amid the sludge and debris that was once their homes.

Go!