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.

Several workers are feared trapped inside a tunnel in Uttarakhand after a part of the under-construction structure collapsed today. Efforts are on to open the tunnel and rescue the trapped workers from the tunnel.

The tunnel is meant to connect Silkyara to Dandalgaon in Uttarakhand’s Uttarkashi. It is being built under the Char Dham Road Project and aims to reduce the journey from Uttarkashi to Yamunotri Dham by 26 kilometres.

Police said the incident occurred around 4 am when a 150-metre-long portion of the four-and-a-half-kilometer-long tunnel collapsed.

As soon as information about the incident was received, the district administration sounded an alert and Uttarkashi Superintendent of Police Arpan Yaduvanshi reached the spot.

The rescue operations are being conducted by the State Disaster Relief Force (SDRF) and the police.

According to reports, 40 workers are feared trapped. Authorities said that nearly 200 metres of the slab will have to be cleared to open the tunnel. A narrow opening has been made to insert an oxygen pipe in the tunnel and help the trapped labourers.

No casualties have been reported so far.

Speaking to ANI about the rescue operation, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said, “I have been in contact with the officials from the time I got to know about the incident. NDRF and SDRF are at the spot. We pray to God for the safe return of everybody.”

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.