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112 killed in cloudburst at Leh

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Press Trust Of India Leh
Last Updated : Jan 21 2013 | 4:14 AM IST

At least 112 people were killed and a few hundred more feared washed away in a cloudburst followed by torrential rains and flash floods that devastated this Himalayan town in Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir early this morning. Eyewitness accounts and other sources fear that the death toll could cross over 500 as several far flung villages were yet to be accessed by rescue teams in this high-altitude terrain.

"We have recovered 112 bodies so far and at least 370 are injured. The number of missing is yet to be ascertained," state police chief Kuldeep Khoda said and added that the toll might go up.

A contractor told senior state administration officials that 150 of his labourers were missing from Shyong village where he had lodged them. The colony was set up along the river Sindh and the officials feared that many huts would have been washed away in the flash floods.

The Army was asked to give an account of local and outstation labourers. Over 200 people were still reported to be missing from the worst-hit village Chougham Sar, 13 kms from here. Authorities said that the Army had suffered losses in Turtuk area. Some of the villages along the Chang La pass, world's second highest motorable road, were also believed to have been washed away in the torrential rains.

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First Published: Aug 07 2010 | 1:21 AM IST

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