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| Cloudburst tragedy: Survivors recount horror | | |
ET Report
Srinagar: Some of the survivors of the cloudburst at the Shri Amarnath Ji Yatra at the cave shrine in South Kashmir said that the “miscalculation” in run for cover by fellow devotees proved disastrous.
The survivors said as the cloudburst took them by surprise, hundreds of panicked devotees near the shrine were left with two options to try escape from the spot. “Seeing the shocking scene of waters and stones gushing down the mountain we were left with two options, which was to run for cover towards either directions of the trek. Those who rushed down to climb towards the Cave got washed away and the others who rushed towards the opposite direction managed to escape,” said a survivor who identified himself as Shubham Garg before the media persons at Pahalgam.
The pilgrim said he would never forget the disaster he saw before his own eyes and that how many of his fellow pilgrims got washed away due to “miscalculation in run for cover.” “A couple with their daughter were trekking down when the parents got buried under stones and the daughter was left to cry helplessly till Army came forward for her rescue,” he added.
Another survivor Ram Kumar said he managed to escape as he rushed towards the side where a local vendor was running. “I thought it was better to follow the vendor and it worked. Some of my colleagues rushed in other direction and got washed away,” he said.
Many other of the survivors said it was too difficult to think which side would be better to run for cover.
“Imagine all of a sudden being getting stuck in oceans of waters gushing down from mountains around you… You cant think roperly. For many of those who thought that they should climb towards the cave, before they would manage to climb up, the waters came gushing down from that side with all speed,” the survivors said.
At least 16 bodies were recovered from the landslides while as forty persons are still missing and a major hunt has been launched to trace them out.
Apart from sniffer dogs, the Indian Army is using special hit-tech devices to trace out the missing persons, hit by the disaster on July 8.
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