Flash floods kill 58 in India's Ladakh
JAMMU, India (Reuters) – Overnight flash floods killed at least 58 people around the main town of India's Himalayan region of Ladakh, officials said Friday, adding soldiers had been called in for rescue operations.
The region shares borders with Pakistan where the country's worst floods in 80 years have swept through the economically vital Punjab region, killing over 1,600 people and devastating the lives of more than three million people.
Indian officials said dozens of people were still missing after floods, triggered by unexpected heavy rains, damaged houses, telephone towers and government buildings in Leh town in the state of Jammu and Kashmir.
"The army has launched a rescue operation and the death toll could rise further," Naseema Lanker, a senior government official said by telephone.
Buddhist-dominated Ladakh, which also shares borders with China, has been hit by unusually bad weather in the past few days, stranding many tourists who flock to the place for adventure sports such as white water rafting.
"Sheets of water poured in after the cloudburst last night, washing away mud and stone structures that came in its way," a police spokesman said by telephone from Leh.
(Reporting By Ashok Pahalwan and Sheikh Mushtaq; Editing by Bappa Majumdar and Sanjeev Miglani)
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