Shimla, 27 June

Search and rescue operation by joint teams of national and state disaster response forces, police and home guards to look for six missing people following cloudbursts and flash floods in Himachal Pradesh resumed on Friday morning, officials said.

These people are feared to have been swept away following cloudbursts and flash floods in Himachal Pradesh's Kangra and Kullu districts on Wednesday.

So far, five bodies have been recovered from a hydro project site in the Kangra district that was hit by flash floods on Wednesday while the search for three missing people is on. The teams are also searching for three persons who went missing at Rehla Bihal in the Kullu district after a cloudburst, officials said.

Search started for the missing three people at 6.30 am near Manuni Khad in the Khaniyara village, said ADM Kangra Shilpa Bekta on Friday.

The operation is suspended by 9.30 pm. The task is challenging as the weather is bad, topography is tough and there are no mobile signals at the site, she added.

Lovely from the Chamba district, whom the search teams rescued from a forest near the project site, said there were 13 people in the camp, of which five ran towards the hills while the remaining were swept by the gushing waters.

"We saw the floods coming and screamed to alert the people below before running to safety," Daya Kishan, a labourer, said.

The project work had been suspended due to rain, and the workers were resting in temporary shelters near the site when floodwaters from Manuni Khad and nearby drains diverted towards them, sweeping several away, the officials said.

National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) Commandant Baljinder Singh maintained that they are trying to trace the people feared to have been swept away from the project site.

Meanwhile, BJP MLA from Dharamshala Sudhir Sharma alleged that shelters were built near a stream, and not shifting labourers to safer areas when the weather deteriorated pointed towards negligence, which should be probed.