Onlykashmir.in News Desk
The death toll from rain-related disasters across Jammu and Kashmir climbed to 16 on Monday after four more fatalities were reported from the Jammu division, even as persistent heavy rainfall continued to hamper search and rescue operations in the worst-hit Rajouri and Poonch districts, where at least seven people remain unaccounted for.
The day’s first tragedy struck along the Jammu-Kishtwar national highway in Doda district, where a rock rolled down a hillock amid torrential rain and slammed into a passenger bus. Rescue teams reached the spot swiftly, shifting seven injured passengers to a nearby hospital, though one of them was declared dead on arrival. The wreckage of a separate damaged vehicle yielded the body of an unidentified individual, and efforts to establish that person’s identity are still underway. The highway itself remained blocked through the day after boulders also struck a couple of private vehicles in the same stretch, though their occupants escaped unhurt.
In a second incident in the same district, a woman was killed after being struck by a shooting stone near her residence in the Kashtigarh area. Separately, the body of a young man who had been swept away in flash floods in Rajouri a day earlier was recovered from the river at Salani.
The fresh wave of casualties comes barely 24 hours after devastating flash floods and landslides tore through Poonch and Rajouri, claiming 12 lives and leaving several others missing. Of those, Poonch alone accounted for 10 deaths with six people still missing, while Rajouri recorded two fatalities and one missing person, a Jal Shakti department employee. Renewed rainfall that began in the early hours of Monday continued without let-up through the day, turning already swollen streams and slippery terrain into serious obstacles for rescue crews battling poor visibility to trace the missing.
Personnel from the Police, Army, SDRF and Civil Defence, alongside local volunteers, have continued working around the clock despite the adverse weather, even as authorities voice growing concern over the possibility of fresh landslides. The Meteorological Department has forecast moderate to heavy rainfall across Jammu and Kashmir through July 23, prompting district administrations to issue advisories urging residents in vulnerable belts to stay away from rivers, streams and nallahs. Other districts, including Jammu, reported moderate to heavy rain without any immediate loss of life or property damage.
