Thirty-five people were killed and 50 injured in flash floods caused by a devastating cloudburst in flash floods caused by a devastating cloudburst in Shillagarh village, 50 km from Shimla, in Garsa area of Kullu district on Wednesday morning.
Chief Minister Vir Bhadra Singh had earlier said the number of persons feared dead could be more than 100.
Director General of Police A K Puri said according to the information gathered so far, the toll might not be as high as feared initially.
Sixteen bodies have been recovered so far, official sources said. Two persons, they added, succumbed to injuries on the way to hospital.
Of the injured, 22 were admitted to a hospital at Kullu, while some others were discharged after first-aid, the sources said.
More than 250 migrant workers, mostly from Bihar and Nepal, were at the Parvati hydel power project site when the cloudburst took place between 0300 hours and 0400 hours IST.
Official sources said the flash floods washed away several huts of labourers and the gushing waters swept large chunks of lands along the banks and uprooted trees.
All communication links and power supply to the disaster area has been disrupted as the cloudburst snapped overhead transmission lines.
There were no local people among those washed away as they had shifted to higher areas after the devastating flood in Pulianallah and Garsa Khud way back in 1995.