PDP president Mehbooba Mufti on Sunday visited the affected families who lost their houseboats and dwellings in a fire on Saturday. Three Bangladeshi tourists had died in the incident.

“Visited Dal (Lake), where several houseboats were ravaged by a massive fire on Saturday. Apart from extensive damage, three tourists tragically died despite the efforts of locals,” Ms Mufti posted on X.

She requested the Jammu and Kashmir administration headed by Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha to provide soft loans to the affected families so that they could rebuild their houseboats.

“Request @manojsinha_ ji to provide soft loans & other essentials necessary for houseboat owners to rebuild. Perhaps in the future moving fire stations will help to prevent such incidents,” she added.

Visited Dal where several houseboats were ravaged by a massive fire on Saturday. Apart from extensive damage, three tourists tragically died despite the efforts of locals. Request @manojsinha_ ji to provide soft loans & other essentials necessary for houseboat owners to rebuild.… pic.twitter.com/VORvOlZtFV

— Mehbooba Mufti (@MehboobaMufti) November 12, 2023

Apni Party leader Altaf Bukhari, while expressing sympathies with the affected, urged the administration to assess the losses and compensate the victims accordingly.

“Sympathies with the houseboat owners of Dal Lake who have lost property worth crores in a devastating fire mishap today. May the victims find strength in these testing times. I urge the authorities to assess the loss caused to the property and compensate the victims accordingly,” Mr Bukhari said.

A team of Apni Party leaders, including Noor Mohammad and Ashraf Mir, visited the site of the incident in the Dal Lake.

Expressing anguish over the incident, Lt Governor Sinha on Saturday said, “I am deeply pained by the loss of lives due to the unfortunate fire incident at the Dal Lake, Srinagar. My heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families. I have directed the district administration to provide all necessary assistance to the affected people.” Srinagar Deputy Commissioner Mohammad Aijaz and senior tourism department officials visited the scene of the blaze on the Dal Lake and assured all possible help in rebuilding the damaged houseboats, the officials said.

In a tragic incident, four members of a family were stabbed to death by an unidentified assailant at Kemmannu in Udupi district on Sunday morning, police said.

According to Police, a masked man forcibly entered the house and brutally attacked Hasina (46) and her three children aged 23, 21 and 12. Another woman was seriously injured in the attack and admitted to a hospital.

Sources said the victim’s husband is working in the Gulf. Udupi District Superintendent of Police Arun Kumar visited the scene of the crime.

The motive behind the murders is yet to be known. Further investigations are on, they said.

A joint team of Border Security Force (BSF) and Punjab Police recovered a drone in the Nesta village of Punjab’s Amritsar, an official said on Sunday.

According to an official statement, the China-made Quadcopter was recovered from the outskirts of the Nesta village in Amritsar.

“On 12th November 2023, during morning hours, on specific information regarding the presence of a drone, a Joint search Operation was launched by BSF and Punjab Police on the outskirts of Village, Nesta of Amritsar, the official release said.

A search operation was carried out at 9:45 am and the drone was recovered from a farm field adjacent to the village Nesta, the official release stated.

On Friday too, BSF had recovered a China-made Pakistani quadcopter drone near the International Border in Punjab’s Tarn Taran district.

On the intervening night of November 3-4, BSF intercepted the movement of a suspected drone near Village Tindi Wala and recovered a Pakistani drone from a farming field in the Firozpur district of Punjab.

The recovered drone was a Quadcopter of model DJI Mavic 3 Classic, according to officials.