10 boats, 4 motor boats, specialized marine boat, special commandos of MARCOS, SDRF, team of WUCMA and local fishermen utilized in Sopore rescue operation
Suhail Khan
Sopore, Dec 18 : The joint search and rescue effort for the missing girl is underway in Sopore town of the Baramulla district of north Kashmir by the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), Wular Conservation and Management Authority (WUCMA), Indian Navy’s MARCOS, Fishermen Association Sopore, police, and local administration.
The 17-year-old girl disappeared after jumping into the Jhelum River in the Baramulla neighborhood of Sopore. The search for the missing girl entered its 7th day on Sunday.
An official navigating the whole operation told Webstory that dozens of divers including SDRF, marine commandos of Indian Navy’s MARCOS team, team of WUCMA, local fishermen and Sopore police were continuously putting their efforts in retrieving the body of the missing teenage girl.
Wular Conservation and Management Authority:
Riyaz Ahmad Shah, Block officer (West) Wular Conservation and Management Authority said that for three days their team utilized their personal and financial services to retrieve the body.
“We used a special marine boat, a team of six men for 3 days. We also provided life saving jackets and a wooden boat to the volunteers involved in the rescue operation,” Riyaz Ahmad told Webstory.
He said that as directed by DC Baramulla and Coordinator WUCMA, the department utilized every resource to retrieve the body.
Department of Fisheries:
Bashir Ahmad, a Guard in the department of fisheries, said that they have utilized the services of around 15 boats and dozens of men to retrieve the body.
He said that the search for the missing girl entered the 6th day but unfortunately they couldn’t gain any success.
Fishermen Association Sopore:
While talking to Webstory Mahigeer Association Sopore Ghulam Hassan said that around 30 fishermen and 10 boats of local fishermen have been put in use to retrieve the body of the teenage girl.
“As soon as we received a call from the department of fisheries, we appealed to the fishermen community to use the resources to retrieve the body. We will provide our services whenever needed,” he added.
Locals:
Meanwhile locals of Sopore have appealed to the administration to fence the Sopore bridge in order to stop the practice of jumping in the river Jehlum.
State Disaster Response Force:
An official of SDRF told Webstory that the operation has been called off after 7 days and right now locals are involved in the search operation.
“There are several things to mention as to why the teams failed to fish out the body of the teenage girl from the waters. The water near the bridge is a bit speedy which is making it difficult for us,” he added.
The official further said that due to damage in the old bridge the planks, stones and residue are stuck in the river bed.
“Also the meshes of concertina wire that was used during the militancy era is stuck at the river bed which makes it difficult for us to locate the body,” the official said.
He said that the river is around 50-60 feet deep and cold gushing water is creating problems in the search.
EXPERT DIVER FROM SOUTH KASHMIR:
Meanwhile the locals and family have seeked help of a Pulwama diver who is said to be an expert in retrieving the bodies from the water sources across the valley.
Abdul Salaam Dar (64), a resident of Kakapora area of Pulwama is said to have an expertise in fishing out bodies from across the Kashmir Valley.
Dar, claims to have saved 18 lives and have fished out at least 40 bodies from the various water bodies across the Kashmir Valley.
MOTHER OF THE TEENAGER:
Meanwhile talking to Webstory, the mother of the teenage girl appealed to the authorities to help the family in locating the missing girl.
“I don’t want any money but I need my daughter back. I request the administration to help us to fish out my daughter’s body else it will hurt us till death. I want to see her face one last time,” she added.
SUPPORT:
Watching the difficulties of the family, several socio political and religious organizations have come forward to provide a helping hand towards the family.
JOURNALISTS OF SOPORE:
The journalists of Sopore who continuously updated the situation through their media channels to the outer world have extended their support towards the family.
Junaid Bhat, a photojournalist even said that he will donate all the money he got from the videos that were shared on his monetized pages.
“Whatever income I got from videos ( having more than 1 million views) of recent story related to suicide, I am donating the same to the victim’s family.
I request other Facebook page owners and journalists to do the same,” Junaid wrote on his microblogging site twitter.
