- Title: INDIA: Body pulled from river in missing students search
- Date: 12th June 2014
- Summary: MANDI, HIMACHAL PRADESH, INDIA (JUNE 12, 2014) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (ANI-NO ACCESS BBC) RESCUE WORKERS SEARCHING IN THE RIVER TWO RESCUE WORKERS TRYING TO PULL OUT BODY STUCK BETWEEN ROCKS PEOPLE STANDING AND WATCHING RESCUE OPERATION UNDERWAY RESCUE WORKERS CARRYING BODY RESCUE WORKERS CARRYING THE BODY COVERED IN A WHITE SHEET AND PLACING INTO VEHICLE (SOUNDBITE) (Hindi and English) OFFICIAL OF SASHASTRA SEEMA BAL (ARMED BORDER FORCE), SANJEEV YADAV, SAYING: "Today a male body has been recovered. It was stuck between the boulders and we had a lot of trouble pulling it out. But, now we have recovered it" VICE-CHAIRMAN OF NATIONAL DISASTER MANAGEMENT AUTHORITY (NDMA), M. SHASHIDHAR REDDY, TALKING WITH RESCUE OFFICIAL (SOUNDBITE) (English) VICE-CHAIRMAN OF NATIONAL DISASTER MANAGEMENT AUTHORITY (NDMA), M. SHASHIDHAR REDDY, "More than 500 people on the whole are here on the field. Additionally, we are getting 15 divers from Kolkata, Guwahati and Patna and these people will arrive here any minute. In addition to this, under normal circumstances when people get drowned, their bodies start floating by this time unless they are obstructed if they get caught in between rocks and things like that and probably that is what has happened looking at the terrain." MAN HOLDING LIFE BOAT RESCUE WORKERS STANDING AND LOOKING AT THE RIVER RIVER
- Embargoed: 27th June 2014 21:53
- Keywords:
- Location: India
- Country: India
- Topics: Accidents,People
- Reuters ID: LVA1C2JK7H3SVW2F9W6BNLREXNPC
- Aspect Ratio: 4:3
- Story Text: Rescue workers pulled a body from River Beas in northern Indian Himachal Pradesh state on Thursday (June 12) during the search operation for the missing students of a southern Indian engineering college who were swept away by waters released from a dam, officials said.
"Today a male body has been recovered. It was stuck between the boulders and we had a lot of trouble pulling it out. But, now we have recovered it," said official of Sashastra Seema Bal (armed border force), Sanjeev Yadav.
The students had been taking photographs at the river bank near Thalot on Manali-Kiratpur Highway in northern Himachal Pradesh on Sunday (June 8) when they were swept away.
This takes the bodies found to seven.
Rescuers, included teams of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), Indian Army and Armed Border Force, Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) and divers.
More divers have been called in from eastern part of the country in order to locate 18 people who remain missing.
Vice-Chairman of National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), M. Shashidhar Reddy, informed unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) would be put into service soon.
"More than 500 people on the whole are here on the field. Additionally, we are getting 15 divers from Kolkata, Guwahati and Patna and these people will arrive here any minute. In addition to this, under normal circumstances when people get drowned, their bodies start floating by this time unless they are obstructed if they get caught in between rocks and things like that and probably that is what has happened looking at the terrain," he said.
Some of the students survived, managing to swim to safety.
The waters of the river Beas suddenly spiked dangerously high following a release from the reservoir of 126 MW Larji hydropower project. Whether warning signals were sounded before the dam released water is not yet clear.
Those who survived complained of a lack of warning signs.
The National Human Rights Commission of India has served notices to the police and Chief Secretary of the province over the negligence in the case.
Officials have launched an investigation to determine the sequence of events, but are presently concentrating on rescue operations to find the rest of the group. - Copyright Holder: ANI (India)
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