Death toll from Kashmir flash floods rises to at least 32, Indian disaster officials say

At least 32 people have been killed in flash floods caused by torrential rains in a remote, mountainous village in Indian-controlled Kashmir, a disaster management official has said.

Mohammed Irshad said on Thursday that rescue teams scouring the devastated Himalayan village of Chositi brought at least 100 people to safety.

He added that at least 50 others were still missing, citing initial estimates.

Jitendra Singh, India’s deputy minister for science and technology said the floods were triggered by heavy rain in Jammu and Kashmir’s Chositi area.

Susheel Kumar Sharma, a local administrator, said that villagers and officials had so far recovered seven bodies from under the mud and debris.

Sharma said many people were still missing as the devastating floods swept away dozens of vehicles and motorbikes.

Chositi is a remote Himalayan village in Kashmir's Kishtwar district. It is the last place accessible to vehicles on the route of an annual Hindu pilgrimage to a mountainous shrine.

Multiple pilgrims are feared to have been caught up in the disaster. Officials said the pilgrimage has been suspended and more rescue teams were on the way to the area.

Manoj Sinha, New Delhi's top administrator in Kashmir, offered condolences for the loss of life and said he had directed personnel from India’s military and paramilitary forces, as well as police and disaster management officials, to strengthen rescue and relief operations.

Sudden, intense downpours over small areas, which are known as cloudbursts, are increasingly common in India’s Himalayan regions.

Cloudbursts have the potential to wreak havoc by causing intense flooding and landslides, impacting thousands of people in the mountainous regions.

Experts say there have been more cloudbursts in recent years partly due to climate change, while storm damage has increased because of unplanned development in mountain regions.