JAMMU: One person died and another was injured after a landslide struck a hydropower project site, while more than 230 people, including women and children, were evacuated after being stranded in heavy snowfall at the high-altitude Sinthan Top in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kishtwar district, officials said on Monday.Amid the adverse weather conditions, authorities ordered the closure of all educational institutions located outside municipal limits in Kishtwar and the neighbouring Doda district on Monday as a precautionary measure, officials added.The landslide, triggered by rain, hit a hydropower project site near Dangduru in Kishtwar district on the intervening night of Sunday and Monday, trapping two workers.
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Rescue teams later recovered one worker’s body from the debris, while the other was pulled out with injuries and shifted to a hospital for treatment, officials said.In another incident, officials said a joint rescue operation by the police, Army and civil administration safely evacuated 235 passengers travelling in 38 vehicles after they were stranded in heavy snowfall at Sinthan Top, which connects Kishtwar in the Jammu region with Anantnag district in south Kashmir.“On March 15, information was received that 235 civilians were stranded at Sinthan top due to heavy snowfall and severe weather conditions. Troops of the White Knight Corps were immediately mobilised to launch a swift rescue operation despite the treacherous terrain and relentless snowfall.“Braving extreme weather and snow-blocked roads, the rescue teams reached Sinthan top and provided the stranded civilians with hot meals, drinking water and shelter. Repair and recovery teams restored the mobility of the stranded vehicles, while passengers from the unrecoverable vehicles were safely evacuated.“Medical teams rendered assistance and essential medicines to those in need,” the White Knight Corps said in a post on X.“The mission witnessed seamless coordination between the Army, J-K Police and the National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation, reaffirming the Army’s unwavering commitment to safeguarding lives in the harshest conditions,” the post added.Kishtwar deputy commissioner Pankaj Kumar Sharma, along with SSP Naresh Singh and the commanding officer of the 11 Rashtriya Rifles, supervised the rescue operation, which continued for several hours, officials said.(With agency inputs)
