West Bengal: Seven persons have been killed and several others are feared missing following a flash flood in Mal River at Malbazar in West Bengal’s Jalpaiguri district.
The incident was reported while local Durga Puja organisers assembled at the river bank for immersion of the Durga idols on the occasion of Dussehra, IANS reported quoting police.
The Jalpaiguri District Magistrate, Moumita Godara Basu confirmed the death toll as seven.
“Several people assembled at the Mal river bank at 9 pm when the flash flood swept several people. The administration immediately stopped the immersion of idols there. By late Wednesday evening seven bodies had been recovered. Nearly 40 persons have been rescued who were swept by the flash flood and got stuck on a local island,” the District Magistrate said, as per the report.
Jalpaiguri’s District Police Superintendent, Debarshi Dutta said that initially only two bodies were recovered and as the rescue operations started five more bodies were recovered.
“The rescue operations are being conducted by teams of district police, State Disaster Management Department and the National Disaster Response Force,” Dutta added.
The local Trinamool Congress MLA from Mal Assembly constituency, Bulu Chik Baraik said that besides the administration the local people are also assisting the rescue teams in their operations.
“The evening hours are posing difficulty in swift rescue operations,” the report quoted Baraik as saying.
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