Amarnath cloudburst: Pilgrims wait for yatra to resume

BATAL: (Jammu and Kashmir) [India], July 10 (ANI): In view of the cloudburst incident, the Amarnath yatra has been temporarily suspended.

However, the pilgrims are still waiting at Baltal Base camp for it to recommence.

As the route to Amarnath was damaged and the repairing work is still going on, it will take some time to repair the track and resume yatra.

Kundan Nayak, a devotee from Pune said, "We are waiting for the last two days here at the camp. My registration is for today but because of cloudburst yatra is stopped. This is a very unfortunate incident but we are hopeful that it will resume soon. We will wait here till the yatra resume. We will return back only after offering prayers."

Ayush, a boy from Punjab, said he will wait here to resume the yatra and will return home without darshan (prayer).

Another devotee, Dr Devraj from Punjab's Bhatinda, said that he has full faith in the administration that the yatra will resume soon.

"Due to the cloudburst, the yatra has been temporarily suspended. We pray to Lord Shiva that the yatra resumes soon and we have trust in the administration that they will commence it as soon as possible. It is not possible to resume the yatra today but it may resume tomorrow. Some of the water pipes which broke is been fixed and repairing work is underway," said Dr Devraj.

As per the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) data on Saturday, at least 16 people died in the cloud burst incident near the holy shrine of Amarnath.

Meanwhile, four Mi-17V5 and four Cheetal helicopters of the Indian Air Force were deployed for rescue and relief efforts at the Amarnath shrine on Saturday. The Cheetal helicopters flew 45 sorties, carrying five NDRF and Army personnel and 3.5 tonnes of relief material while evacuating 45 survivors from the holy cave.

Earlier, Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant-Governor Manoj Sinha chaired a high-level meeting to review the ongoing rescue and relief operations at Amarnath cave, informed the officials.

A two-minute silence was also observed during the meeting to pay tribute to devotees who lost their lives in the incident. An Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) official on Saturday informed that rescue operation has been intensified in the Amarnath cloud burst incident.

Meanwhile, Chinar Corps Commander Lieutenant General ADS Aujla reached the cloudburst-affected areas near the Amarnath cave. A cloudburst struck the holy cave area of Amarnath on Friday which resulted in a heavy discharge of water in the 'Nallah', adjoining the holy cave.