A labourer couple, the only ones of their group to survive the cloudburst that struck the Dharali area in Uttarakhand’s Uttarkashi on Tuesday, recalled their son’s final two-minute phone conversation with them after the tragedy, following which he went missing.
The couple from Nepal, Kali Devi and her husband Vijay Singh, were the only ones who left for Bhatwari from Harsil after completing their tasks at around 12 pm on Tuesday, a little over an hour before the tragedy struck, according to an NDTV report.
A day later, none of the remaining members of their group of 26 labourers who arrived from Nepal were reachable. The group of labourers were deployed for road and bridge construction work in the valley.
‘Papa, we won’t survive’
Vijay Singh, recalled his final phone conversation with his son, saying he was inconsolable and helpless. Their son went missing after the cloudburst hit the valley and triggered flash floods as well as landslides.
“He said papa, we will not survive, there is a lot of water in the drain,” the report quoted Singh as saying, sitting at the Bhatwari helipad.
According to Kali Devi, she and her husband walked till Gangawadi – that leads to Harsil Valley – but could not go any further after a bridge of the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) over the Bhagirathi river was found washed away.
“When we left the valley, we never thought that such a disaster would hit the region. Had I known about the impending floods, I would not have left my children behind,” the report quoted Devi.
“I appeal to the government to take us to Harsil Valley. We will find our children ourselves,” she added.
Besides the labourers, many others, including a team of army personnel were also present at the valley when the disaster struck. Nine Army personnel — one junior commissioned officer and eight jawans — are reported missing, the Army said in an official release on Thursday.
As per the last update given by the authorities, at least five people have died and 70 have been rescued but many still remain missing, with the search operations having entered the third day on Thursday.
Army said more than 50 are missing.
