New Delhi [India], September 5 : The death toll from floods in Punjab rose to 43 on Friday, even as rescue and relief operations intensified with AIIMS Delhi sending a specialised medical team to the affected areas, officials said.
According to a release by the Department of Information and Public Relations, the deaths were reported from Amritsar (5), Barnala (5), Bathinda (4), Fazilka (1), Ferozepur (1), Gurdaspur (2), Hoshiarpur (7), Mansa (3), Pathankot (6), Patiala (1), Rupnagar (1), Sangrur (1) and SAS Nagar (2) and Ludhiana (4). Three people remain missing.
The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi sent a team of doctors and nurses to be deployed in the flood-affected areas of the state and Northern India to extend medical and humanitarian support.
The deployed team includes specialists from Medicine, psychiatry, paediatrics, community medicine, surgical disciplines, radiodiagnosis and laboratory medicine.
Earlier in the day, National Disaster Response Forces (NDRF) teams provided relief material to Fazilka as the Satluj river continued to remain flooded.
Rekh Singh Meena, NDRF Sub-Inspector, stated that more than 1,500 villagers have been rescued, further stating that instructions were received from the District Commissioner to shift villagers to safer locations.
"We have been carrying out rescue operations in Fazilka since 27th August. We have rescued more than 1500 villagers, and we are providing relief material to them...District Commissioner has urged the villagers to shift to safer locations..." Meena told ANI.
A local expressing his suffering thanked the government for providing relief materials.
"It has been 20 days since water entered Fazilka. We are suffering a lot. There is water everywhere. All the crops have been damaged. The government and some organisations, NDRF, SDRF, are providing us with relief materials..." he told ANI.