At least 32 persons were killed after a cloudburst triggered a flash flood near the Chashoti village of Jammu and Kashmir’s Kishtwar district on Thursday.

Sunil Sharma, state leader of opposition and MLA from Padder Nagseni, confirmed that 32 bodies have been recovered from the area, ANI reported. The Padder Nagseni constituency is located in the Kishtwar district.

Rescue operations were underway, ANI quoted Kishtwar’s Deputy Commissioner Pankaj Sharma as saying.

Union minister and Udhampur MP Jitendra Singh said that the incident had led to “substantial casualty”. Kishtwar is part of the Udhampur Lok Sabha constituency.

In a social media post, Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha expressed his condolences to the families of those who died, but did not mention the number of persons feared to have been killed.

Sinha said that the police, the Army and disaster response forces had been directed to strengthen rescue and relief operations and ensure assistance is provided to persons affected.

Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said he spoke to Union Home Minister Amit Shah to brief him about the emerging situation. He said that verified information from the cloudburst-hit area was slow in arriving, but the news was grim.

“All possible resources are being mobilised from within & beyond J&K to manage the rescue operations,” Abdullah said.

The chief minister also released help desk and control room numbers for those affected by the cloudburst.