Uttarkashi, Aug. 9 -- Furqan Ahmed was sitting in his car in Dharali when he heard the hills rumble. Floodwaters were barrelling into Dharali and he had seconds to decide - wait for his friends, who were buying food, or drive. The welder from Uttar Pradesh floored the accelerator pedal, leaving death behind, but carrying with him a mountain of guilt. The 31-year-old was sitting in his Maruti Alto, parked at the entrance of the Dharali market and three of his friends were barely 20 feet from the black hatchback. "Suddenly, I saw people running past. I realised something major had happened. I screamed at my friends and told them to run, because they wouldn't be able to make it to the car. I sped away when I realised the waters were metres away," he said on Friday, three days after the carnage that rocked the cluster of villages tucked away in the upper reaches of Uttarakhand. "About 30 or 40 metres, I stopped the vehicle to check where my friends, Furkan Chota, Salman Khan and Yogesh Kumar were. But there was no trace of them. and the rest of the market had gone too." He couldn't get out and help - the mud had started to creep towards him. Ahmed drove away. He and his friends worked as welders about two kilometres away from the market. "I don't know how I survived. I barely escaped death by a few seconds and a few metres. Had I waited a few seconds more, I would have died," he said. Furqan, from Bijnore, rushed out of the affected area and was airlifted by UCADA chopper from neighbouring Harsil village to Matli town 80km away on Thursday. Information and deaths and injuries in the wake of the deluge has been scant, with rescuers struggling to dig through sheets of muck that have layered the village of over 500 people. Authorities have yet to release a toll, though officials warned that several bodies would likely be buried beneath mud and debris. Uttarakhand chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said more than 600 people have been airlifted from Harsil and Dharali so far, including 278 on Friday. Those rescued were flown to helipads at Matli and Chinyalisaur in Uttarkashi, where arrangements for first aid and onward travel have been made. Once on safe ground, Ahmed realised that his car was captured on a viral video beamed on TV screens across the country. "For two days there, I couldn't contact my family and tell them I'm alive. It was only after I reached Uttarkashi that I got in touch," he said. Furqan said he will not leave Uttarkashi till he finds out what happened to his friends. "I went to the mosque in Matli to offer prayers, hoping my friends will be found soon. I don't know how to face their families. I survived by a few seconds. and I understand what the families of people missing must be going through.," he said....