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In view of the cloudburst incident, the Amarnath yatra has been temporarily suspended.
At least five pilgrims, including two women, from Andhra Pradesh were reported missing in the cloudburst and flash flood near the holy Amaranth cave in Kashmir, the state government said here on Sunday.
The state government dispatched AP Bhavan additional resident commissioner Himanshu Kaushik to Srinagar to coordinate with the local authorities and ensure safety of AP pilgrims, an official release here said.
Despite the announcement about the temporary halt in yatra, 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. We will wait here till the yatra resume. We will return back only after offering prayers."
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.
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.
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