Guwahati: Five Army personnel remained missing for more than 48 hours after a flash flood swept away shelters at a camp near the LAC in Arunachal Pradesh’s Dibang Valley district on Friday evening, officials said.While initially seven personnel had been washed away, two were rescued. “There’s still no information about the missing personnel till Sunday afternoon,” a senior govt official said.According to district administration, a state disaster response force team from Pasighat reached Mipi, the site of the incident, on Saturday night and remained stationed there.“Advance teams of the Army, ITBP and the district administration have been stationed at Mipi in preparation for the search operation. The search operation, in coordination with the SDRF team, is expected to commence shortly,” the administration said in a release on Sunday.The administration said it was closely monitoring the situation and coordinating rescue efforts. Officials told TOI that poor mobile connectivity was hampering regular updates from the affected area, located more than 50km from the district headquarters in Anini.The administration had earlier said a cloudburst occurred around 4.30pm on Friday, triggering a surge of water and debris from Above Nalah that swept away shelters in the Pashupani area of Mipi Circle.It warned on Sunday of further threats to life from possible flash floods, sudden rises in water levels, unstable slopes, landslides and falling debris.The Army, ITBP, civil administration, police and other agencies are jointly coordinating the search-and-rescue operation. “Movement of civilians, tourists, visitors and other unauthorised persons towards the affected area is strictly prohibited,” a prohibitory order said.
