Indo-Pak flood disaster prompts frantic rescue bid

FE Team | Published: September 09, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00

SRINAGAR, Sept 8 (agencies): Authorities in India and Pakistan made frantic efforts Monday to pluck tens of thousands of people to safety from floods which have killed at least 350 people as desperate residents huddled on rooftops.
Army and air force troops worked through the night to rescue thousands of people stranded across Kashmir where more than 300 people have been killed in landslides and flash floods, an Indian official said Monday.
 Six days of rains in Indian-controlled Kashmir have left more than 120 people dead in the region's worst flooding in more than five decades, submerging hundreds of villages and triggering landslides, officials said. In neighboring Pakistan, more than 160 people have died and thousands of homes have collapsed.
With phone lines down and roads cut off, the full scale of the disaster in the cross-border Kashmir region and in Pakistan's Punjab province was still to emerge but video footage shot from army helicopters showed entire villages under water, with only tin roofs visible.
As Pakistan's premier toured some of the worst-hit areas, Indian authorities deployed naval commandos as part of a massive relief effort that saw thousands of blankets distributed as well as tents.
Some of the famous shikara wooden boats, which ferry tourists across the Dal Lake in Indian Kashmir's main city of Srinagar, were pressed into service to rescue people from their homes.
Divers toiled to help bring people to safety while residents on both sides could be seen waving from rooftops as vehicles and livestock were washed away by surging waters below them.
Disaster officials say at least 350 villages have been submerged on the Indian side of the de facto border in Kashmir by torrential monsoon rains, making it the deadliest flooding there for half a century.
Thousands of troops, police and other emergency personnel, backed by helicopters and boats, have fanned out across the Kashmir Valley and the rest of the state to deliver blankets, tents and other aid, the Indian officials said.
A spokesman for the Indian navy said teams of divers had been deployed and were working "day and night".
Srinagar airport was cut off from the city by heavy flooding just 700 yards outside the terminal, according to an AFP correspondent.
Delhi resident R. S. Gandhi found himself stuck at the airport after flying up from the capital to try to rescue his in-laws.
"The last time I was able to speak to them yesterday and they had already moved up to the second floor of their building. Twelve feet of water had come into their building in just three hours," he told AFP.
"Now that I am here I don't know what to do next, how I can help or get them back to Delhi."