Cloudburst: Rescue operation underway to trace 45 missing people
Shimla (PTI): Rescue operations were underway on Friday to trace over 45 people missing following flash floods triggered by cloudbursts in three districts of Himachal Pradesh, while 29 people stranded at the site of a power project in the state were brought to safety overnight, officials said.
Cloudbursts in Nirmand, Sainj and Malana areas in Kullu, Padhar in Mandi and Rampur in Shimla districts on Wednesday had left five people dead and over 45 missing.
Thirty-three people were also stuck in Malana II power project in Manikaran area of Kullu district.
Deputy Commissioner Kullu, Torul S Raveesh, said 29 out of the 33 have been rescued.
A wall and way to a tunnel was damaged due to rains and water entered the barrage but the teams of the NDRF and home guard managed to rescue 29 people, while four persons are still in the power house.
The relatives of the missing people are campaigning at the spot and the Army, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), Indo-Tibetan Border Police, State Disaster Response Force, police and home guards are involved in the rescue operations and the help of drones is being taken to locate the missing persons, officials added.
The maximum damage was caused in Samej area of Rampur subdivision of Shimla district as a cloudburst near Shrikhand Mahadev on Wednesday night triggered flash floods in Sarpara, Ganvi and Kurban nallahs.
As a result, the water in Samej Khud in Shimla district's Rampur rose, leaving two people dead and about 30 missing, Shimla Superintendent of Police Sanjeev Kumar Gandhi had told PTI.
"We have to search about a 100-km area, some of which is inaccessible and drones are being used to locate the missing people, " Gandhi had told PTI on Thursday.
Nali Ram, a senior citizen who along with his family members managed to escape the flash floods, said, "I heard the sound of gushing waters and came out of my house only to find the area around flooded".
The swelling of Samej Khud resulted in havoc in Shimla and Kullu districts.
"My father-in-law, who was working on a project, has been missing since last night and I along with other relatives came here in search of him," another local Neel Dutt said.
According to reports, over 20 houses, six shops, four main and two foot bridges were washed after the cloudburst in the state and road connectivity has been hampered in the affected areas.
So far since the onset of monsoon on June 27, 73 people have died in rain-related incidents and the state has also suffered losses to the tune of Rs 649 crore, according to the state's Emergency Operation Centre.
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
