Four dead, five Army personnel missing after landslide, flash flood in Arunachal Pradesh

ITANAGAR — Five Army personnel went missing after a flash flood triggered by heavy rainfall washed away two shelters in Arunachal Pradesh's Dibang Valley district, while four people died in a major landslide on a road construction site in Upper Subansiri district, officials said on Saturday.

According to the State Emergency Operations Centre here, both incidents occurred on Friday evening.

The landslide occurred at the Keojaring-Byaching road cutting site in Upper Subansiri district.

While several people were buried under the debris, four people -- Tadu Baki, Taji Rai, Markosh Basumatari and Babul Ali -- were reported dead in the incident.

The body of Babul Ali has been recovered, said the district disaster management officer of Upper Subansiri.

Personnel from Nacho Police Station have been deployed for the search and recovery operation. Fire and Emergency Services personnel are also being mobilised from Daporijo, while a team of the State Disaster Response Force will assist in the operation.

In Dibang Valley district, two shelters of the 5th Grenadier at the Pasu Pani Army Camp were washed away by a flash flood triggered by heavy rainfall on Friday evening.

Officials said that the flash flood swept away seven Army personnel and two of them were rescued, while five remain missing.

The missing personnel have been identified as Havaldar Upendar and Army personnel Kundan, Vinod, Aditya and Samunda.

Two search and rescue teams from the 5th Grenadier have already been deployed.

Teams comprising personnel of the 58th Battalion of the ITBP, 62 RCC of the General Reserve Engineer Force, local volunteers and the Arunachal Pradesh Police have been rushed to the site for the search operation. An SDRF team from Pasighat is also proceeding to Anini to assist in the rescue operation.