Search operation resumes to trace people missing since landslide in Gaurikund

Rudraprayag (Uttarakhand): A search operation to trace people who went missing following a landslide triggered by a flashflood near Gaurikund this week resumed on Saturday morning.

According to district disaster management officer Nandan Singh Rajwar, around 100 National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) personnel, along with a team of the local administration, are engaged in the search operation.

Drones are being used as well, he added.

Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami is scheduled to visit the spot to review the search and rescue operations.

Rajwar said three bodies have been found so far and 17 people are missing. However, the district administration had on Friday said that four bodies had been recovered.

Three shops were washed away in the landslide following the flashflood in a rainfed waterfall at Daat Puliya near Gaurikund on the way to Kedarnath on the intervening night of Thursday and Friday, leaving 20 people missing.

The Mandakini river flows around 50 metres below the spot where the shops were located.