Flash floods kill 88 in India's Ladakh
SRINAGAR, India (Reuters) – Overnight flash floods killed at least 88 people around the main town of India's Himalayan region of Ladakh, officials said on Friday, and soldiers had been called in for rescue operations.
The region borders Pakistan, where the worst floods in 80 years have swept through the country, killing over 1,600 people and devastating the lives of more than four million, as well as dealing a blow to the agrarian-based economy.
Indian officials said dozens of people were still missing after the floods, triggered by unexpected heavy rains, damaged houses, telephone towers and government buildings in Leh town in the state of Jammu and Kashmir.
"Flash flood and mudslides caught people unawares during the night and washed away their homes," said Nawang Rigzin Jora, Kashmir's tourism minister.
Over 6,000 Indian soldiers are conducting rescue and relief work, an army spokesman said.
Witnesses said hundreds of houses, government buildings and the main bus station were flattened by mudslides and floods.
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.
Leh town, dotted with Buddhist monasteries, lies at an altitude of 3,505 metres (11,499 feet).
"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 Miral Fahmy)
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