Uttarkashi flash floods: Cadaver dogs, veterinarians assist NDRF teams

A team of 69 NDRF rescuers, two cadaver dogs and veterinarians joined rescue operations in the flood-ravaged Dharali village in Uttarakhand's Uttarkashi district on Thursday to look for survivors, a senior officer of the federal contingency force said.

An Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) spokesperson said in Delhi that a total of 307 pilgrims were evacuated by its personnel from Gangotri to Mukhwa and they were being taken to Harsil as of 11:45 am.

"This is a big disaster and the analysis of the damage is going on. The roads connecting Uttarkashi have been badly damaged. However, our teams are working in the affected areas to rescue the victims," National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Gambhir Singh Chauhan told PTI.

He said two cadaver dogs trained by the NDRF have been deployed for the first time in the 19-year history of the force.

The NDRF was raised in 2006.

"Apart from the cadaver dogs who will help us find the dead, we have four sniffer dogs who can sniff out survivors," he said.

The DIG said a team of 69 NDRF personnel are now working in Dharali, which was ravaged by the flash floods on Tuesday afternoon.

The first unit of the force reached the location on Wednesday evening as road routes were blocked and aerial sorties from state capital Dehradun were not taking off due to bad weather.

Rescue teams from ITBP, Army and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) are also working in the area.

Chauhan said the force has established a communication centre in the disaster zone with the deployment of QAD (quick deployment antenna) and satellite phones. Some veterinarians have also been sent to the incident site to help the livestock.

"We will try to rescue as many people and victims as we can," he said.

PTI first reported on August 4 that the NDRF was pressing cadaver dogs into service in Uttarkashi for the first time in its history. These dogs are trained to sniff out the dead buried beneath the debris and slush.

The NDRF recently trained about six such dogs to ensure that bodies can be located and the families of the deceased can get closure.

It procured a special scent from abroad that smells akin to the odour emitted by a dead body for training these dogs -- Belgian Malinois and Labrador.

"For all these years, the NDRF was focused on its mandate of saving lives. Utilising the golden hour of finding life during a disaster has been the guiding principle of the rescuers and hence finding the dead or mortal remains was not a priority," a senior officer recently said.

However, the force has also been part of operations where NDRF personnel are tasked with retrieving bodies from the debris, like in the aftermath of a landslide, or train or a road accident, he said.

Finding bodies or human remains is important to ensure closure for bereaved families, the officer said.