Authorities have so far accounted for sixteen bodies of victims of a cloudburst, which hit a camp housing labourers near Sheelagarh village of Kullu district in the early hours of Wednesday.
"I would like to clarify that Sheelagarh village has not been affected. The flash floods hit one of the labour camps in nearby Garsa. No local person has been affected," Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh told rediff.com.
"Most of the victims were either from Bihar or Nepal. They were working on the Parvati Valley power project," he said.
"Initial reports indicated that over 100 people may have been washed away in the flash floods that followed the cloudburst. We are still looking for bodies."
"Heavy rains and poor visibility are hampering relief operations," he said.
"This is a natural calamity and there is nothing we could have done to prevent the casualties," he said adding the state government would bear the medical expenses of those injured in the incident.
"Agriculture Minister Raj Krishan Gaur has been deputed to supervise relief operations."
Weather permitting, Singh plans to visit the affected village on Thursday morning.
EXTERNAL LINK:
The Weather Notebook: Cloudburst
The disaster that follows heavy rains
Cloudburst severs links to Kullu village