People’s anger boiled over on Saturday at flash flood-ravaged Chositi, with relatives of some of those missing denouncing “staged photo-ops” by visiting VIPs that they said were hampering rescue operations.

Chief minister Omar Abdullah was at hand to witness a live demonstration of the fury.

A flash flood triggered by a cloudburst hit the remote mountain village of Chositi in Kishtwar district of Jammu on Thursday. Scores of people from other places have since arrived in the area to look for their missing relatives.

Omar, who visited the spot on Saturday, put the number of confirmed deaths at 55 till Friday — 5 fewer than the toll of 60 he had announced the day before.

He said 70 to 80 people were missing but added that the number kept fluctuating.

Some of the relatives — waiting for the JCB machines to dig out bodies — said VVIPs were thronging the area and seemed more interested in photo-ops than helping the people.

A video showed some people telling a TV channel that every time an MLA or a minister came visiting, rescue operations were stopped as they posed before the JCB machines to have their pictures clicked.

A man said that over a dozen members of his extended family, including his mother, were missing.

Omar happened to be passing that way, accompanied by security and officials. He approached the group and asked them to narrate their grievances.

“Every time a minister comes, work stops. All we want is our dead bodies. One MLA brings a minister 10 times, and then no work happens. We are very disturbed,” a man from Bari Brahmana in Jammu district told Omar.

He claimed that 20 JCB machines had been brought but only 2 were functional. He regretted that only five bodies had been recovered since Friday.

“If they (ministers or MLAs) had faced anything like this, would they (rescue workers) have recovered just five bodies? If it had happened to a minister, an MLA, or somebody else, or Modi…,” he said.

Omar told him that “each one of us” was grieving over the tragedy.

“No sir, if it had happened to you, there would have been work,” the man confronted him.

“Once you leave, you will see 20 MLAs coming. Please give us the dead bodies, if they are not alive.”

Omar assured him of help before moving on.

The chief minister later told reporters that the families’ anger was understandable.

“They have been waiting for their missing family members for the past two days. They want an answer. They want to know if their family members would come out alive or not,” he said.

Omar had arrived at Chositi, the last motorable village on the way to the Machail Mata temple in Kishtwar district, by car in the morning.

Several VIPs, mostly BJP leaders, have visited the area. Union minister Jitendra Singh came on Friday evening. Some of Omar’s cabinet colleagues too have paid a visit.

As immediate relief, Omar on Saturday announced ₹2 lakh each for the families of the dead, ₹1 lakh for the severely injured and ₹50,000 for those with minor injuries, all from the chief minister’s relief fund.

He also announced a compensation of ₹1 lakh for “fully damaged” houses, ₹50,000 for severe damage and ₹25,000 for partial damage.