With monsoon rain causing flash floods and landslides in Arunchal Pradesh, seven local residents who set out to rescue four fishermen stranded in the swollen Sisiri river in Lower Dibang Valley found themselves stranded after their raft overturned in the strong current. Following a multi-agency rescue operation, during which people even attempted to use elephants to reach those trapped, the four fishermen and the seven locals were rescued.
At least three people have died as a result of the torrential rainfall in Arunachal Pradesh over the past week, and the state’s infrastructure, particularly roads and highways, has sustained significant damage.
In the midst of this, a well-meaning rescue effort by seven locals of Dambuk in Lower Dibang Valley went askew on Sunday when their rubber raft overturned while they were trying to rescue the four fishermen stranded in the river as a result of flash flooding.
#WATCH | Arunachal Pradesh: Papum Pare district has been severely affected after a cloudburst blocked the Hoj–Potin road, cutting off access to several neighbouring districts and disrupting essential connectivity across the region. pic.twitter.com/gmkTW3hbXJ
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“The four men had gone to lay bamboo traps for fishing in a stream. The water level in the stream itself was low, but it flooded all of a sudden, and they got stranded on a river island, surrounded by water on all sides. A private group of locals, on humanitarian grounds, went to try to rescue them on a rubber boat. They located three of them and were returning in the evening, but when they tried to dock on the riverbank, the boat overturned,” said Dambuk MLA Puinnyo Apum.
The rescue
According to the state disaster management authority, five of the people on the raft were able to swim back to the shore, but five of them were swept away in the water. Four of them later found their way to a river island, and one caught hold of a drifting log.
As of 10.30 pm Sunday night, the NDRF was able to rescue the person who was trapped on the log, but five people remained stranded, with rescuers not able to ascertain the location of one of the four fishermen. In the midst of all this, MLA Apum said that locals even tried using some of their elephants to rescue the stranded people, but they were unable to enter the surging river.
On Monday morning, an IAF helicopter finally arrived at the site after initially not being able to take off because of heavy rainfall and airlifted two stranded people by 11 am. The remaining, including a stranded fisherman who was located on another river island, were rescued by boat by the NDRF.
Uprooted trees and debris scattered across the area after a devastating flash flood at Possa village, in Keyi Panyor on Saturday. (ANI Video Grab)
Landslide panic
In the meantime, another potential disaster de-escalated on Monday, said Arunachal SDMA secretary Dani Sulu, after a massive landslide blocking the flow of the Siji river in Lower Siang district had sparked panic.
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The landslide had created a “temporary natural dam”, causing water to collect into a lake-like formation, which prompted the district administration to issue a warning about the potential of a “serious and life-threatening situation”.
“If the blockage suddenly collapses, it could trigger a powerful flash flood without warning, endangering lives, homes, livestock, roads, bridges, and other public infrastructure downstream,” the administration had warned.
On Monday, SDMA secretary Sulu said that the water had naturally dissipated through the mud overnight. However, he told The Indian Express that rescuers and the administration have not yet been able to clear the landslide because access to it is currently blocked by other landslides.
Visuals of the landslide over the Siji river also showed that a biker who had been on the hill at the time was carried along with the debris as the hill slid downwards towards the river. However, he was unharmed as the debris did not collapse on him, and he was able to make his way out after the landslide came to a stop.
