PATNA: A 65-year-old man died after being injured when an Indian Air Force (IAF) chopper dropped relief packets among flood victims in Bihar’s Saran district on Friday. A woman and a minor girl were also injured in the incident.
The deceased was identified as Anil Kumar Singh alias Appu Singh. Locals said Singh sustained severe injuries when a bag containing relief material fell on him at Parsurampur village in Saran.
Amnaur police station SHO Vimlesh Kumar confirmed Singh’s death during the distribution of flood relief material. He said the body had been sent to Chhapra Sadar Hospital for post-mortem examination.
The woman and minor girl were injured as flood victims rushed to collect relief packets dropped by the chopper. They were admitted to a hospital in Chhapra for treatment.
Meanwhile, floodwaters from the Gandak River entered new areas of Saran after embankments were breached. Rescue and relief operations have been intensified, with an IAF chopper pressed into service.
The chopper dropped more than 3,000 relief packets in flood-affected areas of the district. Residents of nearby villages have taken shelter on embankments after the swollen Gandak entered their homes.
According to the Disaster Management Department, 170 villages across 33 panchayats in seven blocks of Saran have been affected by the floods. Around 3.32 lakh people have been affected, and more than 43,400 have been relocated.
Officials said 12 teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and seven teams of the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) have been deployed to assist the district administration in rescue and relief operations. Additional teams have also been rushed from Bettiah, Gopalganj, Supaul, Bhagalpur, Madhubani, Darbhanga, Samastipur and East Champaran.
The Gandak, Ganga, Kosi, Bagmati and Ghagra rivers are flowing above the danger mark at several locations following heavy rainfall in Nepal and Uttar Pradesh. Vigil along embankments on the Bihar-UP border has been intensified after residents attempted to damage embankments to ease pressure from floodwaters.
The situation in West Champaran worsened after a bridge connecting Pujaha and Patjirva collapsed in the floods, affecting road connectivity with the district headquarters at Bettiah. District authorities have appealed to people to use alternative routes to reach the headquarters.
The swollen Gandak has put embankments in Saran, Gopalganj, East Champaran, West Champaran, Vaishali, Supaul and Patna, among other districts, at risk, a senior Water Resources Department (WRD) official said.
The official said extremely high pressure was being exerted on the left and right embankments at certain locations. Efforts were underway to prevent attempts to damage them to ease pressure from the floodwaters.
“Heavy rainfall in Nepal and UP has worsened the situation,” the WRD official said.
Tension remained high in villages near the Bihar-UP border in Gopalganj after a group of people from Uttar Pradesh allegedly attempted to damage an embankment. Residents on the Bihar side continued night patrols in groups to prevent any damage.