Aug 19, 2025: Body of a woman was recovered in this cloudburst-hit village in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kishtwar district, taking the death toll to 64, officials said, as the extensive rescue and relief operation entered the sixth day on Tuesday.

The decomposed body was sighted downstream and subsequently recovered by the rescuers this morning amid intensified search operation with the improvement in the weather, the officials said.

Sniffer dogs also assisted in the recovery of a lower body part from another victim that was hidden beneath the rubble of a collapsed house. Officials said that the body part is thought to belong to a person whose body was found on the first day of the tragedy. Heavy machinery, including earthmovers and sniffer dogs, are being used by the rescue teams to sift through the rubble at multiple locations, particularly the major impact spot close to a langar (community kitchen) site. With the recovery of one more body, the death toll in the flash floods triggered by the cloudburst in Chisoti, the last motorable village en route to the Machail Mata temple, on August 14, has risen to 64.

Three members of the CISF and one Special Police Officer (SPO) from the Jammu and Kashmir Police were among the victims. According to the officials, a new revision of the list that was made on Monday resulted in the rescue of 167 people, while the number of people who are still missing has decreased to 39. Masoof Ahmad Mirza, SDRF Deputy Superintendent of Police, stated that the rescue and relief operation is continuing on a war footing and that a team is being sent downstream to check the area. The recovery of one more body kicked off the rescue operation this morning. The cloudburst has a large impact area, so it takes time. He continued, "We are sending a team downstream as well now that we have cleared a large area upstream."

In a post on X on Monday, the Army's Jammu-based White Knight Corps stated that five relief columns of the force are engaged in rescue and relief operations and that efforts have been further intensified with the deployment of additional medical teams. A trail of destruction was left behind by the flash floods that were brought on by the cloudburst. They flattened a temporary market that served as a langar location for the annual Machail Mata yatra. They also damaged 16 houses and government buildings, three temples, four water mills, a bridge that was 30 meters long, and more than a dozen vehicles. The rescue efforts are being carried out by joint teams of the police, army, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), CISF, Border Roads Organization (BRO), civil administration, and volunteer locals. On Sunday, engineers from the Army constructed a Bailey bridge over the Chisoti nullah, establishing the vital link between the village and the Machail Mata shrine. In an effort to intensify the rescue and relief operation, the Army has also recruited a few all-terrain vehicles. The rescuers conducted over half a dozen controlled explosions in the past three days to blow up giant boulders hampering the search.

On Tuesday, the annual Machail Mata yatra, which started on July 25 and was supposed to end on September 5, was put on hold for the sixth day in a row. However, the authorities will allow a group of devotees carrying ‘Charri’ from Jammu and is expected to reach the shrine on August 21 or 22.

Chisoti, about 90 kilometers from Kishtwar town, is the starting point for the 8.5-kilometer ascent to the 9,500-foot-tall shrine. Over a dozen earthmovers and other heavy equipment are being used by rescuers, and the NDRF has mobilized its resources, including dog squads, to speed up the rescue.