India: 6,000 people missing due to floods

Local authorities have yet to include these missing people in their list of fatalities.

India officially announced on July 15 that, a month after massive floods ravaged the northern state of Uttarakhand, 580 people had died and nearly 6,000 were missing. Local authorities have yet to include the missing in the death toll.

India uses planes to evacuate people (Photo: economictimes)

The Uttarakhand state government said that in addition to compensation from the federal government, families of missing relatives will also receive a subsidy of $2,500 from the state government budget.

Record rains in June triggered landslides and flooded rivers in Uttarakhand, trapping thousands of Hindu pilgrims. The floods washed away villages, bridges, roads, and riverside homes. Officials and local media dubbed the disaster a “sub-Himalayan tsunami.”

The Indian Air Force has launched the largest aerial rescue operation in its history. Helicopters have conducted hundreds of sorties to evacuate stranded residents and pilgrims and drop thousands of kilograms of relief supplies to flood-hit areas./.

According to VOV - DT