In the afternoon of February 10, fear and panic gripped the people of Wandeval village in Kokernag area of south Kashmir’s Anantnag district when suddenly a loud explosion was heard and the entire water flowing into the famous Brengi River was swallowed by a colossal whirlpool forming a sinkhole in the middle of the river. The river beyond the sinkhole dried up as water drained into the sinkhole and hundreds of trout fish died and were collected by the locals present on the spot.
The Brengi River is one of the major tributaries of Jhelum formed by the confluence of three streams, Nowbugh stream, Ahlan Gadol stream and Daksum stream. The Nowbugh stream originates from the glaciers of Margan Top – Kishtwar side and Daksum stream originates from the glaciers of Sinthan in Anantnag district. Kokernag village is also popularly known as Bringi river valley.
A sinkhole is an underground depression in which rainwater collects and typically drains into the subsurface. Sinkholes are most common in what geologist’s call, “karst terrain.” These are regions where the types of rock below the land surface can naturally be dissolved by ground water circulating through them. Soluble rocks include salt beds and domes, gypsum, limestone, and other carbonate rock.
When rainfall moves down through the soil, these types of rock begin to dissolve. This creates underground spaces and caverns which pull the surface down due to the lack of support.
Prevalence of sinkholes in South Kashmir
South Kashmir is an area largely underlain by limestone and is highly susceptible to sinkholes. However, there is no database of sinkhole collapses for south Kashmir. Renowned geologist and Head of the Department of Earth Science, Professor Ghulam Jeelani said that the entire south Kashmir is vulnerable to sinkholes and already many similar sinkholes have formed over the course of time in different regions across Anantnag district.
“Formation of many sinkholes are not reported to authorities or news organizations, and many occur in mountainous regions where they are unobserved,” Professor Jeelani said. Interestingly, the last reported sinkhole collapse occurred in 1995 around 27 years ago in the same stretch just 50 meters away from the current sinkhole location. The water of the sinkhole was found to be oozing out from the Achabal spring. Later the sinkhole was filled up with boulders and no study of the area was carried out later. “There is a high chance that the sinkhole might develop again in the future course of time, and we don’t know its location, it can collapse roads or residential buildings damaging life and property and can prove disastrous,” Professor Jeelani explained. The professor said he had many times pointed out that this area is prone to losing streams which means the water is lost underground. “There are networks of caves formed underground due to dissolving of limestone which can collapse anywhere and anytime, and we would never know until we carry out proper mapping and mark out sensitive areas. For instance, a building or a residential house stands on an underground cave which no one is aware of, and it will collapse at some point of time resulting in loss of lives and property,” Professor Jeelani noted.
Panic among the locals
After the explosion, more of a loud boom locals rushed towards the stream to peep into the sinkhole watching the water rush and disappear. “When the loud bang came from the river, there was panic in the village and people came out from their houses. I rushed towards the stream which is in the backyard of my shop to see what was happening. When I reached near the river, I was puzzled to see that there was no water in the river as the entire river was disappearing into the sinkhole. People were shocked to see no water in the river and fish were dying,” said Farooq Ahmad, a local Shopkeeper. The incident was shared on social media and officials of various departments visited the site to take a look at the situation and take immediate steps to revive the river again. They also prohibited locals and media personnel from visiting the sinkhole as it can prove very fatal. The sinkhole of sizable dimension of around 12 feet in length and breadth was consuming around 50 cusec of water which was quite a huge quantity and a point of concern- obliging officials to take immediate steps and stop water from discharging into the sinkhole…