Cloudburst Near Amarnath Shrine, 4,000 Pilgrims Shifted To Safety By Rescue Teams
Amarnath Cloudburst: The situation is now control and there has been no loss of lives.
About 4,000 pilgrims were shifted to safety by rescue teams following a cloudburst near the holy cave shrine of Amarnath. The situation is now control and there has been no loss of lives in the incident that occured on Tuesday. The area received heavy rainfall on Tuesday, following which a flood alert was issued and the yatra was suspended between Panchtarni and the holy cave.
Due to the rainfall, water started gushing down mountain passes at a few places, which also led to an increase in the water level in a nearby stream, PTI reported.
On July 8, flash flood triggered by a cloudburst near the cave shrine resulted in the death of 15 pilgrims. About 55 persons were also injured as the floods washed away few tents and langar stalls.
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On Wednesday, a batch of 1,147 pilgrims left the base camp in Jammu for the twin base camps of the cave shrine. On Monday, 3,862 pilgrims left Jammu for the cave shrine while 2,189 devotees embarked on the annual pilgrimage on Tuesday.
The number of pilgrims has drastically fallen in the last three days mostly due to bad weather conditions, PTI quoted officials as saying.
The annual 43-day pilgrimage commenced on the traditional Nunwan-Pahalgam route in south Kashmir's Anantnag and the shorter Baltal route in central Kashmir's Ganderbal on June 30.
Over 2.3 lakh pilgrims have so far offered their prayers at the Amarnath shrine. The yatra is scheduled to conclude on August 11.