SRINAGAR: A 14-year-old nomad Gujjar girl was rescued by the members of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) by risking their own lives after she was swept away by gushing waters of a mountain stream in Jammu and Kashmir’s north-western Baramulla district on Monday.
The video of the incident has gone viral following which many people of the Valley and beyond took to social media platforms to express their appreciation for the “good gesture” and “act of bravery and kindness” by the CRPF jawans. Various political parties and social organizations too have in their statements thanked the CRPF jawans for it.
In the video, a CRPF jawan can be seen jumping in the stream and he is followed by a colleagues as the girl is washed away by strong currents of Ferozpora stream near the township of Tangmarg, about 38-km northwest of Srinagar. A couple of more CRPF jawans too can be seen rushing towards the stream to help in the act. The girl was rescued by the CRPF jawans and, according to their seniors, she was subsequently taken to a nearby sub-district hospital for treatment.
The locals and police sources said that the girl identified as Nageena was along with her family staying in a tent erected on the banks of the stream in Tangmarg’s Chanpora Kawarhama area. “She slipped into the stream while washing clothes on its banks. She was washed away by strong water currents but luckily a group of CRPF jawans standing nearby saw it and rushed to rescue her,” said a witness.
The CRPF said that the jawans who rescued the girl belong to its 176th battalion. They were part of a CRPF contingent performing road domination duty in the area who “on hearing the cries for help from nearby creek risked their lives to save the girl who was being swept by an undercurrent,” the CRPF said adding “Others formed a human chain to rescue her”.
The CRPF Director General R.R. Bhatnagar has announced that two of them identified as constables M. G. Naidu and N. Upendra who first rushed to save the girl from drowning would be awarded the DG commendation disc for their “selfless devotion to duty and exemplary act of saving the life of the girl.”
In a separate incident, a 14-year-old boy Aaqib Ahmed Magray died due after he drowned in a power canal at Khanan in Kangan area of the Valley’s central district of Ganderbal on Monday.
Meanwhile, a report from Muzaffarabad said that, at least, 23 people died and several others are missing after a cloudburst caused flash flood in the Neelum valley of the Pakistan-occupied- Kashmir (PoK) overnight.
Among those swept away by the flash flood waters were fifteen members of a Tablighi Jamaat touring the area for proselytizing Islam. The reports said that they were staying in a mosque in Laswa area of the Valley which with several residential houses and other structures collapsed in flash floods. Also, dozens of people were swept away in the flooding caused by relentless rainfall after the cloudburst over night.
“The Laswa area of the valley was badly hit where many house were swept away. There were also reports of landsliding in some areas. A total of 23 people have been killed,” Syed Al-Rehman Qureshi, Director of Operations, State Disaster Management Authority, said. He added that several people, including women and children, are still missing.
Landslides were also reported in the area and officials said many structures in the Laswa’s main market, including two mosques, were completely destroyed.
Traffic flow in the area has been severely disrupted, while cell phone and internet services are also affected.
Teams including officials from the district administration, disaster management authority and local police are conducting rescue operations in the area.
