Three pilgrims, including a 5-year-old boy and a local “ponywalla”, were killed while nine others, including a 10-year-old boy, were injured when a huge rock ripped apart a shelter during a landslide
Three pilgrims, including a 5-year-old boy and a local “ponywalla”, were killed while nine others, including a 10-year-old boy, were injured when a huge rock ripped apart a shelter during a landslide en route to Vaishno Devi shrine at a height of around 5,200 feet in Trikuta hills near Jammu on Saturday, officials said.
Reports said the “big stone” rolled down and hit the victims near Gate No. 3 of the shrine, called Adhkuwari, at 1.30 am. The deceased have been identified as Shashidhar Kumar (30) from Bengaluru, Bindu Sahni (32) Drag (Chhattisgarh), her 5-year-old son Vishal and Muhammad Sadiq, the 34-year-old ponywalla from Mansa Taanda in Akhnoor area of Jammu and Kashmir.
Abhay from Aligarh, who is seriously injured, was rushed to the community health centre in Katra, base camp to the cave shrine.
Others injured have been identified as Suraj Kant Sahni, who lost his wife and son to the mishap; Ved Singh (69); Naryani (58) and Om Parkas (62); Paras (8); Santosh (28) of Bengaluru; Surjeet Barman (20) from West Bengal and Rajiv Singh (30) from Rajasthan.
CEO of Vaishno Devi Shrine Board, Ajeet Sahu, said the rescue operation has been launched and soon the bodies will be shifted. The SMVDSB officials and police said that the yatra to the cave shrine, which was disrupted for some hours, later resumed.
