One more body recovered from Larji Dam

Tribune News Service

Mandi/Kullu, August 2

Search teams today recovered one more body from the Larji Dam. The death toll has risen to 12, while 34 are still missing in the Manikaran bus accident. The deceased has been identified as Komalpreet Kaur (12), daughter of Baljit Singh, a resident of Pakhokalan village in Barnala district.

However, the administration was yet to confirm the identity of the girl and had called the parents of other teenaged girls also for the confirmation. Baljit Singh was in tears when he identified the body.

An overloaded 52-seater bus carrying 69 pilgrims from Punjab plunged into the swollen Parbati river near Sarsari village on the Bhuntar-Manikaran road in Kullu district on July 23. Eight persons died on the spot, while bodies of three pilgrims were later recovered from the river and the dam. As many as 23 persons sustained injuries in the mishap.

A 12-member Indian Navy team headed by Commander Tilak Thakur today started a search operation with Sonar imaging system from site of the accident. Muddy and turbulent water of the river hampered the search operation. Later, it was shifted to the Larji dam, said Kullu Deputy Commissioner Rakesh Kanwar.

Meanwhile, Kullu Kar Seva president Rajender Singh Gill said five members today spotted the bus driver’s seat some 50 meters downstream from the accident spot and informed the administration.

Sources said now the focus of the search would be shifted in and around the Larji Dam as it near impossible to carry out search operation in the flooded Parbati.

Yesterday, six members of the team conducted a survey from Sarsari up to the Larji Dam and identified some potential spots of finding the missing persons.

Nearly 160 personnel of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), Shastra Seema Bal (SSB), Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), Home Guards and state police are involved in the search operation. The entire 18-km stretch from Sarsari to Larji Dam has been divided into four segments to carry out the search operation.

As efforts of the NDRF, SSB, ITBP, Home Guards failed to yields desired results, the district administration sought the assistance of the Navy in tracing the missing persons.

A large number of relatives and friends of the missing persons from Mansa, Barnala and Bathinda have been camping in a local gurdwara and visiting the accident spot every day in a hope of finding their near and dear ones who feared washed away.