Ganderbal, July 09(KNS):The death toll in the flash flood triggered by heavy rain near the Amarnath cave shrine at central kashmir's Ganderbal district rose to 16 on Saturday as the search operations continued without a break amid fears that many are still trapped under the debris.
An official told Kashmir news service (KNS), that the victims were camping near the Amarnath cave shrine, when the cloudburst occurred around 6 pm Friday. The flash flood washed away a part of the camp. He said that the 16 bodies Rescue operations are underway.
IGP Kashmir, and Divisional Commissioner of Kashmir reached Amarnath holy cave early Saturday to supervise the rescue operations. A Mi-17 chopper of the BSF’s air wing has been pressed into service apart from similar assets of the Army have been shifted to Baltal.
At least 15,000 pilgrims, who were stranded near the Amarnath holy cave, have been shifted to the lower base camp of Panjtarni, and “no yatri is left on the track," the official said, adding that the Amarnath yatra remains temporarily suspended.
The official however futher said that around 30-40 people are still missing the rescue operation for them is going on.
Meanwhile, another official said that as many as 35 pilgrims have been discharged on Saturday following treatment, while 17 others are still at hospitals and are likely to be discharged tonight.
He said that the Indian Air Force has been continuing its rescue efforts to airlift the mortal remains of casualties, injured persons, NDRF personnel and relief load since this morning.
Mountain rescue teams and lookout patrols with high-tech equipment and sniffer dogs have been deployed for the search and rescue operation, as per an army official. “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," an official said.
Jammu and Kashmir L-G Manoj Sinha chaired a high-level meeting to take stock of the rescue ops and assess the situation in the wake of the devastating cloudburst.
Among the decisions taken at the meeting were removing debris to identify more bodies trapped under them, repair of track section washed away by the flash floods and restoring of utilities such as water and power supply, besides an aerial recce of water bodies, lakes etc. above the holy cave and Kalamata point.(KNS)