Srinagar, Aug 07: On Tuesday, with his hotel eerily empty, Jai Bhagwan, a hotelier in Dharali village, decided to visit a nearby temple for a local festival in honour of the naag devta. The temple, located some distance from the village market, was one of the few structures left untouched by the disaster that was about to unfold.
According to Indian Express report around 1:40 a.m., while attending the mela, Bhagwan heard a sudden commotion. “At first, there was a thunderous roar,” he recalled. “Then came screams from the nearby village. People started whistling, but we didn’t understand what was happening. Moments later, huge waves of mud, water, and rocks came crashing down.”
Bhagwan’s four-storey hotel was one of the structures swept away in the deluge. “We did not immediately understand what was happening. I tried to rush to my home, some metres away, but in 20 minutes, the water reached our house,” Bhagwan said. He later rushed to Harsil on foot.
Flash floods and mudslides tore through Dharali, sweeping away buildings in the market area and leaving a trail of destruction. Rescue operations are ongoing, with more than 60 people feared missing. So far, two bodies have been recovered, according to government officials.
Bhagwan told Indian Express that most hotels were empty due to the lull in tourism in the monsoon season, and the market had fewer people on the day the tragedy struck “In other months, my hotel is completely booked when the Char Dham yatra is going on”.
