2 IAF personnel drown in Bhimtal lake as heavy rain pounds Uttarakhand

Prince Yadav (22) from Pathankot, Punjab, and Sahil Kumar (23) from Muzaffarpur, Bihar, were portion of a radical of 8 IAF personnel, including 4 women, vacationing successful Nainital

Rescue cognition nether mode for missing persons astatine Silai Band successful Uttarkashi territory of Uttarakhand connected July 4, 2025. PTI

Amid dense rainfall successful Uttarakhand, 2 Indian Air Force (IAF) unit drowned successful a swollen water successful Bhimtal, officials said connected Friday.

Prince Yadav (22) from Pathankot, Punjab, and Sahil Kumar (23) from Muzaffarpur, Bihar, were portion of a radical of 8 IAF personnel, including 4 women, vacationing successful Nainital, Circle Officer Pramod Shah said.

Locals joined the constabulary successful the rescue cognition to propulsion Yadav and Kumar’s bodies retired of the water aft a conflict that lasted for astir an hour, helium added.

The rain, which has been battering the state, has affected regular beingness with the closure of much than a 100 roads crossed the state, disrupting the Chardham yatra and causing foodgrain shortages successful immoderate villages successful the Geeth country of Uttarkashi district.

The road to Yamunotri has been blocked for the past 5 days ever since a monolithic landslide deed the shelters of operation workers astatine Silai bend, leaving 9 radical missing and washing retired a 12-metre agelong of the road.

The roadworthy to Kedarnath besides remains blocked owed to landslide debris betwixt Sonprayag and Gaurikund, making question betwixt the 2 points impossible, officials said, adding that efforts are connected to reopen them.

Home Minister Amit Shah spoke with Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami connected Friday to measure the concern successful the disaster-sensitive districts of the state, including Kedarnath Dham successful the Rudraprayag district.

Dhami shared this improvement successful a station connected X, stating that the Home Minister assured him that the Central Government’s exigency alleviation agencies, including the NDRF and ITBP, are being deployed promptly. This is to guarantee that the Chardham Yatra remains uninterrupted and that devotees bash not acquisition immoderate inconvenience portion travelling.

On Friday morning, boulders besides blocked the Badrinath road astatine respective locations.

A full of 109 roads crossed the elevation authorities are closed owed to rain-related blockages, the State Emergency Operation Centre said.

Most rivers, including the Ganga successful Haridwar, Alaknanda, Nandakini and Pindar successful Chamoli, Bhagirathi successful Uttarkashi and Kali, Gori and Saryu rivers successful Pithoragarh district, are successful spate, flowing conscionable a mates of metres beneath the information mark, officials said.

The Alaknanda stream is successful spate from Badrinath up to Rudraprayag. The h2o level of Mandakini has besides been connected the emergence for the past 3 days, with its banks submerged nether water.

The medication is making announcements done loudspeakers, alerting radical surviving adjacent to its banks.

The waters of a water formed by an overflowing Yamuna stream astatine Syanachatti successful the Barkot country of Uttarkashi person begun to inundate houses and hotels located adjacent to its banks, officials state.

Barkot SDM Brijesh Tiwari said that helium visited the water tract to measure the situation, and an excavator was brought to region the silt and unclog the lake’s outlet.

Efforts are besides being made to reopen the Yamunotri highway, which has been breached astatine aggregate locations, including Ojri and Banas. The prolonged disruption of this way has started to origin a shortage of nutrient grains successful the villages of the Geeth area, prompting locals to impulse authorities to code the contented earlier it escalates further.

“Necessary steps indispensable beryllium taken by the medication to supply nutrient and different indispensable items to the affected villages without further delay,” stated Mahavir Panwar Mahi, a section societal worker.

In Dehradun, the roads stay heavy waterlogged astatine Prince Chawk and the roundabout adjacent Doon Hospital, wherever blocked drains and overflowing sewer chambers person added to the woes of officegoers and schoolchildren.

Similar upwind conditions are apt to prevail successful assorted districts of the authorities for the adjacent fewer days, officials said. PTI