Nine-year-old Devanshi was among the hundreds of pilgrims gathered for the final leg of the yatra to the Machail Mata temple when tragedy struck on Thursday. She was buried under mud and debris after a Maggi-point shop was swept away by flash floods but was rescued hours later by her uncle and other villagers.
“I couldn’t breathe. My uncle, bouji, and others removed the wooden planks after hours, and we all came out. Mata saved us,” she recalled, her voice still carrying the terror of the ordeal.
Like 32-year-old Sneha, many survivors are still struggling to believe they made it out alive. Just moments after loading luggage into their vehicle, she and her four family members were swept away by a roaring torrent, buried under mud, and pinned beneath a vehicle.
“I was trapped in mud under a vehicle, surrounded by bodies — some of them children with broken necks and severed limbs. I had lost hope of surviving,” she recalled. Miraculously, they clawed their way out.
At least 60 people were killed when a massive cloudburst triggered devastating flash floods in this remote mountain village in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kishtwar district. Every survivor here has a story of narrowly escaping death.
Nine-year-old Devanshi, who was buried under mud and debris when a Maggi-point shop was swept away, was rescued hours later by her uncle and villagers. “We stayed back, thinking it was safe. Then, in minutes, the shop was buried. Mata saved us,” she said.
Sneha, from Jammu, remembered the moment she thought it was all over. “As we reached our vehicles, we heard a loud bang and saw a cloudburst over the hill. In no time, a wall of mud, boulders, and trees swept us towards the Chenab River. My father freed himself first, then helped me out. I pulled my mother from under an electric pole — she was barely conscious.”
She saw villagers being washed away and bodies lying everywhere. “Even the Thakur ji idol of Chittoo Mata Temple was swept away before our eyes.”
According to Sneha, the swift action of officials, the Army, CRPF, police, and locals saved countless lives. “If vehicles to evacuate the injured had arrived late, many more would have died,” she said.
The sudden roar of water, the deafening blast, and the avalanche of debris turned Chositi village into a scene of unimaginable destruction within seconds. Search and rescue teams worked non-stop, pulling bodies from the mud and rescuing survivors.
Sudhir from Udhampur described how “the sky and earth seemed to collapse together” and how his wife and daughter were buried under other people. “It took seconds for the hill to bury everything,” he said.
Sunita Devi from Nanak Nagar, undergoing treatment, recalled, “I fell while running, and women fell on me. An electric pole hit me, giving me a severe shock. I kept searching for my son the whole time. We all survived… Mata Rani saved us.”
Others weren’t as lucky. Uma from Jammu survived by clinging to a vehicle tyre, but her sister is still missing. Vaishali Sharma, trapped when a shop collapsed under mud and boulders, said she didn’t know where her parents were but was rescued by the Army along with five others.
Rescuers — Army, CRPF, police, SDRF, CISF, and villagers — worked late into the night. Additional SP Pradeep Singh said locals, including over 20 bikers led by Ganga Ram, ferried the injured through cut-off roads. “Without them, more lives would have been lost,” he said. (Agencies)
