$300,000 found in safe swept away by Indian flood

Illustration: workers clearing rubble in a flood-hit town found 19 million rupees in a safe washed away by the deluge (AFP/File)

DEHRADUN, India (AFP) – Workers clearing rubble in a flood-devastated town in the Indian Himalayas have discovered 19 million rupees ($303,000) in a safe which had been swept away by floodwaters, police said Monday.

The safe was found on Saturday near the ruins of a bank in the town of Kedarnath that was flattened by flash floods in June, a police officer said.

"The safe was swept away in the floods but the cash is safe," police Inspector General Ram Singh Meena said in Dehradun, capital of the northern state of Uttarakhand.

Meena said the money belonged to the State Bank of India (SBI), the country's largest nationalised bank.

"We have deposited the cash in another SBI branch," Meena told AFP.

The money was found days after a Hindu temple at Kedarnath, a popular pilgrimage site, reopened for prayers as reconstruction efforts continue across the region.

More than 5,500 people are believed to have died in the floods and landslides caused by heavy monsoon rains that washed away homes, hotels, highways and cars.