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4h ago

Kishtwar Flood: Search Widens, DNA Tests Begin as 33–36 Remain Missing

Officials still have not determined whether a cloudburst or an upper‑catchment failure triggered the Chashoti disaster.

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Dr Rakesh Kotwal, posted at the Atholi sub-district hospital, said that the final toll could be much higher.
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Overview

  • Officials put the death toll at 65, with 62 bodies identified and handed to families and roughly 33–36 people still untraced.
  • Army, NDRF, SDRF, police, CISF, BRO and volunteers are combing a 22‑km stretch using heavy machinery, sniffer dogs and controlled blasts to clear massive boulders at key sites.
  • DNA profiling has begun for recovered limbs, and lookout notices were issued to help identify three bodies kept at hospitals in Jammu and Kishtwar.
  • Connectivity has been partially restored with a Bailey bridge and all‑terrain vehicles, searches now extend to the Dool dam and along the Chenab river, and the Machail Mata yatra remains suspended except for a small Chhari procession of 15 devotees.
  • Chief Minister Omar Abdullah reviewed operations and prioritized retrieval and rehabilitation as scientists probe the trigger, noting nearby gauges recorded rainfall too low to explain the flood.