BIG DAM BURSTS.

Press, Volume XLIV, Issue 19389, 15 August 1928, Page 9

BIG DAM BURSTS.

VILLAGES IN DANGER. THOUSANDS LEAVE HOMES. (UMTM PBS3S ASSOCUTIOK—BY BUSCIRIO TXLZQBAfB—COPTBIOHT.) (Eeceived August 14th, 7.5 p.m.) DELHI, August 14. Tillages in Kashmir and the northern parts of the Punjab are gravely endangered as a result of the collapse of a mammoth ice barrier holding back millions of tons of water pent up in the former bed of the Eiver Shayak, in the Karakoram range, near Leh, Kashmir. The dan burst at nine o'clock on Sunday night, and the torrent is now rushing with great force towards the plains, from a height of 1700 feet. . All the villages below the flood level of the Indu have been evacuated, and thousands of refugees are pouring into Pes!, wur.

Colonel Howell, British Eesident at Kashmir, had been encamped at the site of the dam for several days, and was the first t» give warning of the break. Immediately a chain of giant bonfires were lighted, stretching for 200 miles along the loftiest mountains and river banks. To assist evacuation large forces of police and soldiers are posted on the banks of the Kabul and Indus rivers. Nowshera, the big military has been evacuated. It is feared that if it is attacked and the bridge .wept away, tho north-west frontier will be cut off. Before the collapse of the ice barrier the lake was nine miles long and 500 feet deep. In places the ice wall was 1800 feet thick, and 1000 feet wide. The water level had been rising two feet daily for several weeks past.—Australian Press Association.