33, including 17 of family, killed in 48 hrs as rains lash Gujarat
AHMEDABAD: At least 33 people, including 17 members of a family, have died in the past 48 hours in Banaskantha district of north Gujarat, officials said on Wednesday, where thousands of people have been affected by one of the worst floods in recent times.
Almost the entire Thakor family at Khariya village drowned in floods caused by incessant rains that have lashed the district in the past three days. The dead include six brothers and their families. Dasaji Thakor was the only survivor from the ill-fated family.
Locals recovered the bodies from the mud after the waters of the Banas River started receding as the rainfall stopped in the afternoon. “Bodies of 17 people of the Thakor family were brought in a tractor by villagers to the civil hospital. The postmortem will be conducted,’’ a police official said.
“According to reports, the family had taken shelter on the terrace. But on the intervening night of Tuesday-Wednesday, the water level rose above the terrace level and the family drowned,’’ the official added.
“The entire machinery, including National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), Indian Army and air force were pressed into action for rescue operations. Thousands were shifted to safer places. But water level rose over 10-15 feet in some part of the region. And this particular family was residing in an agricultural field,’’ revenue minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasma said.
The government put the death toll at 94, excluding Wednesday’s latest figure, since the onset of monsoon this year. Among them, 41 died due to drowning. Police sources, however, maintained the toll is likely to rise as several people are still missing.
Officials in Ahmedabad said NDRF and army personnel struggled to reach people in the worstaffected Banaskantha and Patan districts.