A P Singh, superintendent of police, Kullu district, has denied that over a hundred people were killed in Wednesday's cloudburst in Sheelagarh village.
"We have extricated sixteen bodies from the wreckage and one more is still buried there. One person died in the district hospital. So in all eighteen people have lost their lives," he told rediff.com on Thursday.
Though the incident took place early Wednesday, information came at around 0800 IST. "I received a phone call about an accident around 8:15 am. Little later, I got another call that said that over hundred people have been washed away in flash floods. We immediately left for the place to mount rescue operations," he said.
Over 500 police personnel, home guards, Indo-Tibetan Border Force jawans, fire officials and local people were involved in the rescue operations, which had to be called off due to bad weather.
Asked why there was so much confusion about the number of people killed, he said, "After the cloudburst, the entire labour force has fled the place out of fear. The subcontractors who had hired them are also missing. So we have no idea how many people have been affected. So far only 8 persons have been reported to be missing. The floods swept the bodies to Pulia Nullah in Gadsa valley in Kullu district," he said.
Rescue operations commenced on Thursday.
Intermittent rains and disruption of road links were hampering work, Singh said, adding the seven-km stretch between Pulia Nullah and Gadsa valley was being searched.
Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh is expected to visit the spot on Thursday.