India says 5,748 missing in floods now presumed dead

Portraits of people missing after devastating floods hit the northern state of Uttarakhand are pasted on the gates of the Jolly Grant Airport in Dehradun, on June 26, 2013. Almost 6,000 people listed as missing after flash floods struck northern India last month are now presumed dead, officials said. (AFP/File)

DEHRADUN, India (AFP) – Almost 6,000 people listed as missing after flash floods struck northern India last month are now presumed dead, officials said Monday.

"5,748 people are listed as missing, and the process of compensation to their families will begin tomorrow on the assumption they are dead," the chief minister of the worst-hit state of Uttarakhand told a press conference.