Mumbai-Kolhapur Mahalaxmi Express held up due to rains; IAF, Navy deployed to rescue stranded passengers

  • Mumbai-Kolhapur Mahalaxmi Express, with 700 passengers onboard, halted due to incessant rains on Saturday morning, informed the Central Railways. Efforts to rescue to stranded passengers is underway. 
  • Teams of NRDF, Indian Navy and Indian Air Force has been pressed into action. As per latest update, 500 people have been rescued. Efforts to rescue others are underway.
  • As per latest update, three boats have reached the site of the train to assist passenger. “Chief Secretary personally looking into it,” said Brijesh Singh, Inspector General, Directorate General of Information and Public Relations.

Additional CRPF, BSF companies deployed in Kashmir

  • In a late night order on Friday, the Union home ministry ordered the deployment of 100 additional companies of paramilitary forces in Jammu and Kashmir, sparking panic in the Valley.
  • The order, accessed by Mint, states that 50 additional companies of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) will be deployed, while nine companies of the CRPF will be moved from the National Capital to the Valley.
  • The other troop deployment will happen through the Border Security Force (BSF), the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) and the Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP). 

As More Floods Hit Assam, Infant Girl’s Home Inundated Twice In Fortnight

  • In an Assam ravaged by floods, an infant girl has been shuttled between her home in Jamguri village and a relief camp in Amdah in Barpeta district, which is only 130 km from Guwahati, twice in a fortnight. 
  • A second wave of flash floods hit the state yesterday, taking the death toll across Assam to nearly 80. At least two lakh people are in relief camps, with more than 30 lakh affected, and 18 districts are inundated.