Srinagar:Srinagar (J&K): After the break of two days owing to the cloudburst tragedy, the Amarnath Yatra was resumed on Monday with thousands of pilgrims taking up the holy journey to the cave today. According to the officials, around 3000 pilgrims were allowed to move towards towards Chandanwari from the Pahalgam base camp.
“After the break of Two and Half day, a fresh batch of yatris were allowed today to proceed towards the holy cave from the Nunwan Base Camp of Pahalgam," a senior official said. The annual Amarnath yatra, this year, started on June 30 after the gap of two years.
Meanwhile, the yatra also resumed from Yatri Niwas in Jammu. "3,010 pilgrims left for Pahalgam base camp at 4.30 am and 1,016 pilgrims left for Baltal base camp at 3.30 am," officials said. J&K Lt Governor Manoj Sinha who visited Chandanwari on Sunday had met pilgrims, and had hinted about the resumption of yatra.
On July 9, a cloudburst took place near the holy cave shrine, triggering flash floods, chaos and confusion. Massive rescue operations were launched soon after that stretched overnight by armed forces, disaster response forces and the Jammu and Kashmir Police. Thousands of people were rescued. Survivors recalled the plight and the struggle they faced as they were eventually moved out to safety.
Also read:Hopes of finding survivors in Amarnath flash floods fading
The efforts of the first responders ensured that the number of deaths in the cloudburst incident near the holy cave shrine of Amarnath in south Kashmir Himalayas was "limited", a senior IAF officer said. "Basically, due to the initial efforts which people put in on the first day, the fatality rate and the number of casualties were really limited," Air Commodore Pankaj Mittal said.
Asked about the scale of the rescue and relief operations, he said,"As compared to a lot of operations we have seen (earlier), this was a bit on a smaller scale". Air Commodore Mittal said a major part of the rescue and relief operations was over and the area should be good enough to be opened for normal activities in the next two days.
"Major effort (of rescue and relief operation) has already gone through and they have already cleared the opening of the yatra again. I think in a day or two, we will be able to clear the area for anything else," he added.
Amarnath Yatra resumes after halt of 2 days; cloudburst claims 17 lives The Indian Air Force (IAF) officer said weather was the biggest challenge in the rescue and relief operations in the aftermath of the incident. "Weather was a major challenge in mounting the rescue and relief operations. The valley (leading to the cave shrine) being narrow and due to clouding, choppers were finding it difficult to enter.
"There are some minimum parameters like visibility that we need to observe before flying....even on the 10th (July), we were not able to operate for more than half the day till 2 pm due to weather," he said. The Air Commodore said, on the day of the incident, the weather was inclement and "we thought it prudent to launch the operations the next day in a coordinated manner".
"On the 8th, the focus was on planning and coordination of assets and coordination between various agencies like the civil administration, the camp commanders, the army commanders, BSF as well as the J&K police," he added. He said the main air operation started on July 9 around 9 am. "The assets we used were four MI-17 V5 from the base unit here and four cheetals, which augmented from the unit at Leh, two fixed wing assets which brought in manpower and assets from other parts of the country," he added.
Air Commodore Mittal said despite inclement weather, the IAF was able to carry out 112 missions. "We carried 123 evacuations and 29 tonnes material was flown in from this base to the lower cave and Panjtarni areas," he said. The officer said the rescue and relief efforts would not have been possible without a lot of coordination and cooperation between various agencies. He lauded the role played by the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), Army engineers and civil administration in carrying out the rescue and relief operations.
One more body recovered today
Meanwhile, Jammu and Kashmir administration claimed to have rescued all missing pilgrims but two. "Till late afternoon today, two women from Andhra Pardesh were missing in the Amarnath cloudburst tragedy. But unfortunately, today we have recovered the body of Gunisetty Sudha of Rajamahendravaram from the site," a senior J&K administration official told ETV Bharat.
The official further said, "Gunisetty Sudha's husband too has identified the body and right the process to shift the body to Andhra is underway. However, Kotha Parvati of Rajamahendravaram is still missing and search operations are underway." Meanwhile, Himanshu Kaushik, Additional Resident Commissioner of AP Bhavan in New Delhi has also written to Divisional Commissioner Kashmir PK Pole, stating that "two women are missing while the remaining 35 have been traced and are safely returning to Andhra Pradesh."
According to the official, some of the traced yatris have decided to continue their trip and are those visiting various places of Jammu and Kashmir. As per the latest update from the Jammu and Kashmir government, 17 people have been killed while one woman is still missing. Search operations are still underway but the yatra has been resumed.
