Cloudbursts in Kashmir Kill 28, Leave Families Searching for Missing

Deadly cloudbursts have devastated mountain communities in Indian-administered Kashmir, killing at least 28 people and leaving families searching for missing relatives. Haji Mohammad Latief, 48, lost his home in Murrah village when a cloudburst on 19 July sent mud, boulders and water crashing down the hillside, trapping eight family members inside. He survived because he had stepped outside to move the family car.

His 16-year-old son Sajjad Ahmed, an aspiring cricketer, remained missing days later. The village, perched in the Pir Panjal range above Bafliaz in Poonch district, about 125 miles south-west of Srinagar, was cut off with no electricity, roads or mobile networks. Residents walked 90 minutes through rain and landslide debris carrying flour, gas cylinders and medicines.

Soldiers, disaster teams and volunteers searched debris by hand and combed the swollen Suran River. In Rajouri, about 30 miles away, the Manawar Tawi River washed away roads, dozens of vehicles and the town's main bus station. In Gurez Valley near the line of control, a cloudburst on 20 July damaged crops of 11 families and blocked the only road.