Baramulla: A pall of gloom descended on frontier Uri as hile bodies of seven out of eight labourers killed in Uttarakhand rockslide reached their homes on Sunday. The killed labourers were laid to rest amid sobs and tears.
A labourer Mohammad Abbas Sheikh who had a miraculous escape when a portion mountain caved in burying his other colleagues said, “We around 23 labourers from Uri and Boniyar were working in construction of road when a large portion of mountain caved-in. Eight labourers died and several got injured.”
‘We cried for help and locals including police helped us in retrieving the bodies. It was like doomsday,” he added.
The deceased were identified as Gulzar Ahmad Sheikh son of Mohammad Ramzan Sheikh, Bilal Ahmad Sheikh son of Fareed Ahmad Sheikh,Abdul Rashid Sheikh son of Ghulam Qadir Sheikh residents of Balkote Uri, Zohoor Ahmed Sheikh son of Ghulam Hussain Sheikh, Imtayaz Ahmad Bhat son of Saber Bhat residents of Mohthal Uri, Mustaq Ahmad Bhati son of Mohammad Din Bhati of Nambla Uri, and Syed Shafeeq Hussain son of Syed Amber Shah of Bagna Boniyar.
Those injured were identified as Altaf Hussain son of Ghulam Qadir of Mohthal and Mohammad Abbas Sheikh son of Subhan Shekh of Balkote Uri.
While seven had a miraculous escape, the bodies of as many others were recovered on the same day. On Saturday, after about more than 24 hours, the body of the missing labourer, a teenager (Majid Khan) was recovered from under the debris.
The bodies were first brought by road from Uttarakhand to Jammu from where they were flown to Uri in a special chopper arranged by the state government with the help of army, SDM Uri Basheer Ul Haq said.
“The remaining body that of Majid Khan will be flown to Uri as soon as it reaches Jammu and will be handed over to the family for last rites,” SDM said.
