Nishikant Khajuria
JAMMU, Oct 12: Hopes of the next of the kin of those buried under the massive trash of landslide at Saddal village of Pancheri block in Udhampur, are sinking with the passage of each day as retrieval of the missing bodies is becoming almost impossible notwithstanding the heavy excavators pressed into service for the last fortnight.
Reaching to Saddal daily in the morning from their temporary camp in Panjar and going back with no trace of their loved ones is now becoming a routine of these unfortunate villagers who are looking for performing last rites of those missing under the debris.
For the last four days, not even a single human corpse has been recovered even as 18 persons are still buried in the village, which was completely ravaged by massive landslide on September 7.
There are no remains of the entire village, which was spread in an area of approximately 3 by 2 kilometers housing more than sixty families with around 500 souls.
The situation can be gauged from the fact that an orchid of apple trees in an area of around 20 kanals, has completely disappeared from the scene with no trace of vegetation in the entire area.
It may be recalled that 40 persons of seven families, including females and children were buried alive in the massive landslide which completely wiped out the Saddal hamlet in Panjar village of tehsil Pancheri in Udhampur district on September 7.
Initially only 13 bodies could be recovered from the debris while nine more corpses were found after heavy excavators were pressed into service a fortnight ago to retrieve other missing persons.
According to official sources, the ongoing exercise for retrieval of bodies had to be suspended for two days since last Thursday following rains and technical snag in the excavators. The operation was resumed yesterday and all out efforts are being made to retrieve the bodies of those, who are still missing under the debris, sources added.
However, at the same time, sources admitted that they were excavating in the trash with no certainty of location but on the basis of guess work.
“The area is so vast and the trash is too massive with big boulders to be excavated easily,” the sources maintained but hastened to add that the ongoing operation to retrieve the bodies would continue till the next of the kin of missing deceased ask for the same.
On the other hand, the unfortunate villagers whose loved ones are still buried under the debris, are losing hopes of performing last rites of the missing bodies as ongoing operation for the retrieval seems turning to dead end amidst apprehensions that the Saddal village was still sinking.
The high level team from the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, Dehradun, which recently visited Saddal village, is likely to submit its report in next few days and till then nothing can be said on the apprehensions of sinking of the land, sources said.
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