In the aftermath of the cloudburst in Amarnath cave on Friday which claimed several lives, the Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, Manoj Sinha, chaired one high-level meeting to assess the situation and progress of the rescue operation as well as maintenance work carried out in the affected area.
In the meeting, several decisions were reached, ranging from debris removal to air Reece of water bodies. The prominent ones are as follows.
- Debris removal whereby the Army is required to press rock cutters into service to remove debris
- Repair of track section washed away by the flash flood and restoring of utilities such as water supply and power supply
- Air recce of water bodies/lakes above the holy cave and Kalimata point
- Conducting a search of bodies of victims and identification of recovered bodies
- Shifting of tents which are on the bank of flash flood Channel
It was further decided that Yatra would remain suspended on Sunday for the above maintenance work. The resumption of the yatra on Monday morning will be decided in another high-level committee meeting which will be held tomorrow.
Amarnath Tragedy Death Toll Reaches 16
The death toll in the flash flood triggered by a cloudburst near the Amarnath cave shrine rose to 16 on Saturday while 15,000 stranded pilgrims were shifted to the lower base camp of Panjtarni, officials said on Saturday. Searches for the missing people continued without break after flash flood and landslides rummaged through tents and community kitchens on Friday afternoon. Senior officials said 25 injured people have been shifted to hospitals while many people are believed to be still trapped under the debris.
According to an Army official, mountain rescue teams and lookout patrols and sniffer dogs have been pressed into the search and rescue operation. “Air rescue operations started Saturday morning and six pilgrims were evacuated by Army helicopters. The military medical teams are receiving patients and casualties at the Nilagrar helipad for onward evacuation,” officials said. An Mi-17 chopper of the BSF’s air wing has been pressed into service. The Jammu and Kashmir administration has also deployed advanced light helicopters for the rescue operations.
“Most of the pilgrims, who were stranded near the holy cave shrine area due to the flash flood that occurred Friday evening, have been shifted to Panjtarni. The evacuation continued till 3.38 am. “No pilgrim is left on the track. About 15,000 people have been safely shifted till now,” the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) spokesperson said.
The 43-day Amarnath Yatra is being held after a gap of three years. In 2019, the pilgrimage was canceled midway ahead of the Centre abrogating Article 370 provisions of the Constitution. The pilgrimage did not take place in 2020 and 2021 due to the Covid pandemic.
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