Islamabad (Anantnag), June 12: Two youth died and three others were feared dead after two vehicles fell into River Lidder near Pahalgam in this south Kashmir district, officials said on Sunday.
 “The accident occurred last night at around 9:30 PM when two cars Ford Fiesta (DL4-CAF-0935) and Maruti-800 car (JKO1G-4477) carrying at least six youth, two and four respectively skidded off the road near Nunwan due to heavy rains coupled with strong winds and poor visibility while on way from Srinagar to Pahalgam. Both the vehicles got trapped in the turbulent Lidder river and due to heavy rainfall these got washed away,” they said.
 Head of Disaster Management Cell, Aamir Ali told Greater Kashmir the Police on Sunday retrieved bodies of two youth Yasir Farooq Son of Farooq Ahmed of Khankah Mohalla and Mudasir Ahmed Shah son of Abdul Rasheed Shah of Habak Naseembagh, almost three kilometres downstream while the bodies of three remaining youth who had drowned continue to be missing. “The rescue operation was called off late in the evening due to darkness,” he said. “Earlier, one of the youth, Shujaat Ahmad Lankar of Khankahi Mohalla,   had a miraculous escape as he was rescued from the river after 12-hours by the personnel of Fire and Emergency Service department. He was rushed to the hospital. His condition is stable.”
 Eyewitnesses and Police said that once the Maruti car rolled into the river, Shujaat came out of the vehicle and stood on its roof. The vehicle, they said, kept on rolling till Police and Fire Service men spotted it near Yanad this morning.
 The rescuers were unable to trace the bodies of Showkat Ahmed Aram Son of Ghulam Rasool Aram of Aali Kadal and two other unidentified persons till late evening.
 Ali said that Armys Marco naval divers would also be pressed into service to trace the missing youth. “We have recovered number plate of the Maruti car and some more tools. Police, Army, CRPF and Fire Service personnel besides river rafters have been pressed into service to locate the missing youth,” he added.
 The rescue operation, Amir said, was monitored by Divisional Commissioner  Kashmir, Dr Asghar Hussain Samoon and supervised by Deputy Commissioner Islamabad (Anantnag) Kifayat Hussain Rizvi, DIG South Kashmir, Shafkat Ahmad Watali, SSP Islamabad  (Anantnag), Ramesh Kumar Jhalla, Joint Director Fire Services RT Dubey, OSD with Div Com Aamir Ali, SDPO Munir Ahmed and SHO Pahalgam.

Lastupdate on : Sun, 12 Jun 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Sun, 12 Jun 2011 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Mon, 13 Jun 2011 00:00:00 IST