Summary At least 1,000 people have been killed by floods and landslides in northern India.
DEHRADUN (Agencies): India has deployed army in flood affected areas and officials feared that at least 1,000 people may have been killed by the merciless floods and landslides in the northern part of India.
Media reports on Thursday revealed that helicopters and some 10,000 soldiers have been deployed to rescue tourists and pilgrims trapped there due to floods caused by heavy monsoon rains hit the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand.
Indian Air force claimed that some 1,400 people have been evacuated in the past 24 hours, but another 18,000 are still stranded, media reports added.
Chief of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police, Ajay Chadha said that evacuating women and children first by helicopter is the top priority of forces.
"We hope to rescue all the living and then start the scavenging task," Chadha added.
Nearly 10,000 soldiers along with 13 teams from the National Disaster Response Force have been deployed for the rescue and relief effort, the government said.
"Never seen anything like this...entire road have vanished and villages destroyed... there s rubble everywhere," a military officer requesting anonymity disclosed it with media.
Relief camps have been set up to house evacuated residents and tourists. Some 30 aircraft are ferrying many of those rescued to the camps, while 14 tones of food and relief aid has been dropped in remote areas, the air force said.
