Cloudburst sparks air rescue in Uttarakhand

A cloudburst in Uttarakhand state cuts off villages forcing an air rescue to ferry supplies and carry the injured to hospitals.

Pithoragarh: A cloudburst on Wednesday affected many villages in Pithoragarh district in Uttarakhand state, which triggered an airborne rescue operation.

A chopper was used to ferry an injured woman in Bangapani village to a community health centre in Dharchula tehsil, district officials said.

Several people were caught in the flood-like situation after the cloudburst.

Sub-Divisional Magistrate of Dharchula, Anil Kumar said, a bridge collapsed in the bad weather and cut off access to many surrounding villages.

"A rescue operation is underway and we are supplying food to such villages by helicopter," he said.