A FALSE ALARM

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 433, 15 August 1928, Page 9

A FALSE ALARM

DAM STILL INTACT KASHMIR VILLAGES SAFE SO FAR RUMOUR OF DISASTER British Official Wireless. Received 11.12 a.m. RUGBY, Tuesday. THE statements that a glacier dam at Yapchan, on the Shayok River, in the mountains of Kashmir, had burst, releasing a vast volume of water down the river valley, are now officially stated to be erroneous.

The first report that the dam had given way was evidently based on a fire that was seen Burning in the neighbourhood. This was mistaken tor one of the beacons which had Been prepared to signal if the burst occurred, and caused the caution signal to be wrongly given. The message which is contradicted was as follows: The villages in Kashmir and in the northern parts of the Punjab are in grave danger as a result of the collapse of a mammoth ice-barrier. This held back millions of tons of water pent up in the former bed of the River Shayok, in the Karakoram range near Leh, Kashmir. The dam burst at 9 p.m. on Sunday and the torrent is now rushing with great force down toward the plains from a height of 17,000 ft. All the villages below the flood level of the Indus have been evacuated. Thou-

sands of refugees are pouring into Peshawar. Colonel Howell, British Resident at Kashmir, has been encamped at the site of the dam for several days. He was the first to give warning of the break. CHAIN OF BONFIRES Immediately a chain of giant bonfires was lighted. These stretched for 200 miles along the tops of the most lofty mountains and on the river banks. To assist the evacuation large forces of police and soldiers have been posted on the banks of the Kabul and the Indus Rivers. The military station at Nowshera Zig has been evacuated. It is feared that if it is attacked and the bridge is swept away the north-west frontier will be cut off. Before the collapse of the icebarrier the lake was nine miles long and 500 ft deep in places. The icewall was 1,200 ft thick and I,oooft wide. The water level had been rising at a rate of 2ft a day for several weeks.