JAMMU: Three persons, including two minors, drowned while four others were rescued as flash floods triggered by heavy rains occurred in different areas of Rajouri, Poonch, Doda and Kathua districts in J&K on Thursday. Meanwhile, a fresh landslide near Satya viewpoint along the Himkoti route blocked the new track to Mata Vaishno Devi shrine atop Trikuta Hills in Reasi district.In Rajouri district, Shaqafat Ali (14) and his cousin Safeena Kousar (11) were out grazing cattle along with a 10-year-old girl, Saima, at their village, Sialsui Mou, in Kalakote sub-division when a cloudburst-triggered flash flood swept them away. Shaqafat and Safeena drowned, but a group of local volunteers managed to rescue Saima. She was hospitalised. The bodies of the deceased children were retrieved and handed over to their kin, officials said.In Doda district, an SDRF rescue team retrieved the body of Basharat Hussain (32), a resident of Dunadi village, from the Lopa stream. Officials said Hussain had drowned while bathing in the stream on June 23.In Kathua district, two men — Baldev Raj (35) and Sushil Kumar (25) — out fishing were trapped in flash floods before being rescued by SDRF from Ujh river near Jarmal village in Nagri block. SDRF also saved another person trapped in a stream in Poonch district.Flash floods triggered by cloudbursts also occurred in Poonch’s Qazi Mora and other high-altitude areas in Doda, Udhampur and Ramban districts, but there were no casualties, officials said.Authorities in several districts, including Rajouri and Doda, have imposed a complete ban on swimming, bathing, fishing and roaming near rivers, nullahs, and waterfalls. School picnics have been prohibited, too. Citizens have been advised to stay alert and follow precautionary measures amid flood-like situations. Police were seen using a public address system fitted on their vehicles to caution people to stay away from swollen water bodies.The landslide on the Himkoti route comes at a time when the shrine board authorities had already diverted the pilgrimage to the old route in view of incessant rains and the threat of landslides on the new track. “The pilgrimage is progressing smoothly even as both battery car and helicopter services remain suspended,” said an official, adding that agencies concerned are clearing the debris on both tracks.
