Search operation enters day three, locals pitch in

The search operation to find the missing persons after a boat capsized in Jhelum, entered day three on Thursday. Local volunteers also joined the rescue teams in the search.

Officials said that the rescue teams of J&K Police, SDRF, NDRF and Marcos continued the searches during the night as well as on Thursday from Gandbal to Raj Bagh in Srinagar. Some local volunteers from Gandbal and from Pulwama, with their own boats, also joined the efforts of the official rescue teams.

“The searches continued on Thursday as well but so far, we had little success in tracing the bodies. The intermittent rains in the afternoon also affected the search operation,” said a police official of Srinagar.

The teams are looking for Farhan Waseem Parray, 7, Showkat Ahmad Sheikh, 40 and his son Haziq Showkat, 9.

As many as three big boats were pressed into service by local volunteers to augment the efforts of the authorities. “We are also making efforts to find the bodies. People are requested to pray,” said Abdus-Salaam, a volunteer.

The people were hopeful of finding the bodies sooner as the water level had gone down but the fresh rains dampened those hopes. “Water level has gone down but now it will rise again owing to the rains. It will also cause the river to flow faster,” said another local.

Six people, including two children and their mother, were killed and three, including two minors, went missing in Srinagar’s Gandbal as a boat in Jhelum carrying the students to school on Tuesday morning capsized.

Locals and survivors of Gandbal have pointed out that the two banks were just 500 m apart, but that they were forced to make the treacherous trip across in the boats because the nearest bridge is 2 km away. They also added that a footbridge, along the accident spot, has been under construction for nearly a decade.

The government has announced an ex-gratia relief of ₹5 lakhs to each family who lost their loved ones and ₹50,000 to each injured.