Army Dog Squad Joins Search for Seven Missing in J&K’s Poonch, Rajouri

Jammu, Jul 27 : With the weather improving, the Army deployed a specially trained dog squad to aid the search for a government employee washed away in flash floods in Rajouri district, officials said on Monday. Rescue teams have intensified efforts to locate six other missing victims in neighbouring Poonch district. All seven people have been missing since July 19, when heavy rains triggered flash floods and landslides across the twin border districts, killing 22 people, most of them in the Surankote area of Poonch. Among the missing are four members of a family from Lower Murrah and two members of another family from Sangla village in Surankote. Officials said rescue teams comprising police, NDRF, SDRF, and civil administration are combing the affected areas to trace the missing employee — Abdul Ghani, a daily-wage worker for the Jal Shakti Department — despite challenging terrain and the impact of recent heavy rain. He was inside a water pumping station when it was washed away in the July 19 flash floods and has remained missing since. In the worst-hit Surankote area of Poonch, multi-agency teams have also stepped up search efforts for six people from two families who are reported missing after flash floods and landslides triggered by a cloudburst. Officials said personnel are searching riverbanks, nallahs and other flood-hit locations. Heavy machinery is also clearing debris from houses and restoring access to affected areas. They said rescue and relief operations will continue until all the missing persons are accounted for. The recent spell of torrential rain caused widespread damage to roads, bridges and public and private infrastructure, including residential houses and agricultural land, besides claiming five more lives in Doda and Ramban districts.