5 of family die in Jammu landslide

Jammu, Sept. 24: Five members of a family, including three minors, were killed when their house was buried under debris after a landslide due to heavy rains in Jammu and Kashmir's Doda district, while 29 people stranded in Kathua district after flash floods were rescued.

Doda and other parts of Jammu region have been lashed by incessant rain for the past two days.

“A total of 29 persons, including six women and 10 children, were rescued from various flood- hit areas of Kathua district during overnight operations,” a police officer said.

With improvement in weather, authorities Monday morning opened the 270- km JammuSrinagar national highway for traffic.

Multiple landslides and shooting stones from a hillock along the highway between Ramban and Udhampur districts had blocked the arterial road since Sunday morning.

Twenty- nine people stranded in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kathua district after flash floods and heavy rains were rescued Monday, officials said.

“A total of 29 persons, including six women and 10 children, were rescued from various flood- hit areas of Kathua district during overnight operations,” a police officer said.

They were rescued from the Nagri, Chabbe Chak and Jakhole and Billawar areas by police and state disaster response force personnel. Bovines are also being moved to safety, the officials said.

Rescue and police teams have been deployed at various areas following the flash floods triggered by incessant rains in different rivers of Kathua district, they said.

In Doda district, authorities have ordered the closure of all educational institutions as a precautionary measure and also set up control rooms in view of heavy rains in the Jammu region since the last two days, the officials said. “Police are on high alert to meet any exigency due to floods. Police teams are deployed.”