PUNE: Two pilgrims from the city, including a woman, died in the flash flood that struck the Amarnath shrine in Jammu and Kashmir on Friday, said district administration officials on Saturday.
Indian Army personnel, who are involved in the rescue operation, have safely shifted 253 pilgrims to the military base camp at Baltal, they said.
Overall 16 pilgrims have died and several others injured after a cloudburst in the Amarnath cave shrine area triggered flash flood on Friday.
The deceased pilgrims have been identified as Sunita Mahesh Bhosale, a resident of Vadgaon Budruk, and Pradip Natha Kharade of Pimpri. The bodies of the deceased will reach here in the next two days, said the officials.
Resident deputy collector Himmat Kharade told TOI, “Pradip Natha Kharade had returned to the base camp safely but he suffered a heart attack and died. We are yet to get information on Bhosale.”
Private tour companies Gurukurpua and Mauli had arranged the Amarnath trip in six buses. “They went on the tour last week,” he said.
“We are in touch with the tour operators and other pilgrims. They are safe now and they will be shifted to another camp by Saturday night. Thereafter, they will start their return journey to Pune either on Sunday or Monday,” Kharade added. District collector Rajesh Deshmukh said they are providing necessary assistance to the family members of the pilgrims. Revenue officials of the district administration met the family members of Bhosale and briefed them about the incident, said Kharade.
A group of 125 Nashik city-based pilgrims, including 21 women, too had a narrow escape in the cloudburst incident. From the Marathwada region, 58 pilgrims from the Jalna district have gone for the Amarnath yatra. The divisional disaster management authorities said on Saturday that all of them are safe. Of these 58 pilgrims, six were barely 7km away from the place where the cloudburst happened.
Ajay Sonawane, a tour operator with Mauli travels, who had arranged a trip for 55 pilgrims this year, said over the phone from Baltal, “On Friday evening, we had a darshan and were standing in an open area near the pilgrim site. That is when a big rock hit the head of Sunita Bhosale, who was standing with her husband and sister. The injuries were so severe that before she could get any medical aid she died.”
With inputs from
Abhilash Botekar
