New Delhi: Five forest department official among 10 people were stuck in the Koldam Hydropower Station or the Koldam Dam in Mandi district of Himachal Pradesh on Sunday. According to officials, the people got stranded due to rising water levels in the dam caused by incessant rains that have triggered a flood-like situation in Himachal Pradesh since the onset of monsoon in the state.
“The situation is not life threatening and the trapped people would be rescued soon,” Mandi Deputy Commissioner Arindam Chaudhary told news agency PTI.
Visuals shared on social media platforms showed some people rowing a boat while another can be seen swimming in the dam waters which are filled with debris from fallen trees and mud.
VIDEO | Ten people stuck in Koldam dam in Himachal Pradesh's Mandi district due to rise in water level amid incessant rainfall. More details are awaited.
(Source: Third Party) pic.twitter.com/O3IR6TsFeB
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“The rescue operation has been started by the NDRF in coordination with the local administration and residents,” Chaudhary said on Sunday night.
It was immediately not known how the incident took place.
Meanwhile, a team of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) is leading the rescue operation to pull out the stranded people from the dam. The locals informed the administration after which NDRF sleuths were rushed to the spot.
The officials said five of those stuck at the site are employees of the forest department — Bahadur Singh, Bhupesh Thakur, Roop singh, Babu Ram and Angad Kumar — while the other five are local people who were identified as Nain Singh, Dagu Ram, Hem Raj, Buddhi Singh and Dharmendra.
The rescue operation is being carried out with the help of a steamer, the officials said.
338 dead in Himachal rain fury
Meanwhile, at least 338 people have died in rain-related incidents in Himachal Pradesh so far even as the local MeT office sounded an orange alert for the next two days in the hill state.
On Saturday, the death toll in rain-related incidents over the past week rose to 78 as another body was recovered by rescuers from the debris of a collapse temple in Shimla, officials said.
MeT sounds orange alert
The local MeT office Saturday sounded an orange warning of heavy to very heavy rains on August 20 and 21 and a yellow alert of heavy rains on August 22 and 23. It also cautioned of moderate to high risk of flash floods in Shimla, Sirmaur and Chamba districts.
Heavy rains can result in landslides, flash floods and an increase in water level in rivers and drains besides causing damage to the standing crops, fruit plants and young seedlings, the MeT warned.
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