Punjab floods: NDRF rescues youths on India-Pakistan border, 400 students saved in Gurdaspur

A dramatic rescue operation played out on the India-Pakistan border in Fazilka on Wednesday after four youngsters, including a 16-year-old boy, were swept away by floodwater and forced to cling to a eucalyptus tree to avoid being carried into Pakistan.

The incident took place near Teja Rohella village on the Zero Line. The boy was initially caught in the current, and three others jumped in to help him, but all four were dragged downstream. They survived by holding on to the tree until an NDRF team reached them.

Local residents said this was not the first such episode. Two weeks earlier, villagers had managed to pull back a boat that was drifting into Pakistan.


About 300 km away, another major rescue was carried out in Gurdaspur district, where rising water entered Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya in Daburi. Around 400 students and 40 staff members moved to the first floor after the ground level was submerged. Rescue teams from the Army and NDRF later evacuated them on boats.

The state government had ordered schools shut till August 30 because of flood risk, but all students of the residential school were still on campus when water levels rose following heavy rainfall and the release of dam water.

Punjab’s border districts of Amritsar, Pathankot, Gurdaspur and Tarn Taran reported fresh flooding after the state recorded 243% excess rainfall in 24 hours — 14.4 mm against a normal 4.2 mm. Haryana logged 247% excess rain and Himachal Pradesh 118%.

Chief minister Bhagwant Mann said he had pressed his government helicopter into relief work.

"The people who gave our party 92 seats and gave me the services of the helicopter, I am handing it over to them," he said.

(With inputs from ToI)