Srinagar: After six days, the body of a Kashmiri engineer has been found under the debris at Rishi Ganga hydroelectric power project, officials said.
Basharat Ahmad Zargar was at the project site after it was hit by a massive burst of water and debris triggered by a glacier crash into its dam.
“Dead body of Er Basharat Ahmed Zargar has been recovered at Uttarakhand. His relations have expressed their desire to carry the dead body to Srinagar for last rites,” said Director disaster management Jammu and Kashmir Amir Ali.
Zargar was in Kashmir a week before the disaster.
His family members say he went back to Uttrakhand to fix some faults in the power project site.
“He called us minutes before the disaster to know about our well-being. Soon after we heard the news about the disaster, we called him back but his phone was switch off,” said his brother Shabir Ahmad.
Ahmad rushed to Uttrakhand to trace his brother. “His body was found today from the debris after almost a week,” said a relative of the deceased.
Zargar was among two Jammu and Kashmir residents who went missing in Uttarakhand. Jatinder Kotwal of Doda, who was working as a supervisor, is still missing.
At least 36 persons have died and more than 204 are still missing after the water tore through the Dhauliganga river valley, destroying everything in its path.
Zargar of Soura area of Srinagar was working as a civil engineer at the Rishi Ganga power project in Uttarakhand.
A committee of experts is yet to conclude the reasons that led to the disaster in the ecologically-fragile Himalayan region.
Uttrakhand Chief Minister’s Media Advisor Ramesh Bhatt told the Kashmir Review that a team of experts is yet to file its report. “They are still discussing among each themselves what could be the reason for the disaster,” Bhatt said.
