Rescued pilgrims who reached Sonamarg's Baltal base camp from Amarnath holy cave after it was hit by the cloudburst narrated their harrowing experiences.
Deepak Chouhan, a pilgrim from Uttar Pradesh's Hardoi told news agency ANI, "A stampede-like situation happened there, but Army supported a lot. Many pandals were washed away due to the water."
Another pilgrim Sumit from Maharashtra said, "the floods triggered by the cloudburst carried a large number of stones with it. We were two kilometres away from the cloudburst site"
Another pilgrim said, "When the cloudburst took place, we could not believe it. After a while, we only saw water and water. We were a group of seven to eight people, by Bholenath's grace, we all got saved. However, we all had a harrowing experience as we witnessed people and bags get swept away with the water."
"Within 10 minutes of the cloudburst, eight casualties were reported. The water carried a large number of stones with it. There were approximately 15,000 pilgrims who came for the pilgrimage. The pilgrims continued to come despite heavy rains," he added.
The Indian Army and Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) troops have conducted rescue operations early this morning.
#WATCH | Indian Army continues rescue operation in cloudburst affected area at the lower Amarnath Cave site
(Source: Indian Army) pic.twitter.com/0mQt4L7tTr
— ANI (@ANI) July 9, 2022On Friday, Thirteen people were killed and over 48 others injured when a cloudburst struck the area near the holy shrine of Amarnath, said Dr A Shah, Chief Medical Officer Ganderbal, Jammu and Kashmir.
As of now, all the injured patients are being taken care of at all three base hospitals: Upper Holy Cave, Lower Holy Cave, Panjtarni and other nearby facilities en route to the holy cave by the health care workers deputed at these stations.
AdvertisementAccording to the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) officials, the cloudburst occurred at the lower holy cave (Amarnath) at around 5:30 pm and the rescue teams rushed to the spot.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
