The water level in the Beas river was lowered Saturday
morning for the first time to find the remaining 16 missing students and one
tour operator who was washed away in a strong current in Mandi last week,
rescue officials said. So far Eight bodies have been recovered.
In a massive operation, over 550 rescue workers continued
their search on the sixth day. Fifteen divers from Hyderabad also joined the
search operation on Saturday.
Jaideep Singh, commanding officer of the National Disaster
Response Force (NDRF), said the focus of the search operation was to locate the
bodies trapped under the boulders.
"Our divers are basically facing the problem of poor
visibility. The river bed is full of mud and silt. There are also big boulders
and rocks. It's only through feeling that they are recognizing the objects
lying beneath," National Disaster Management Authority vice-chairman M.
Shashidhar Reddy told IANS.
Police have registered a case against the Larji hydropower
project authorities for causing death by negligence and endangering life of
people.