Prez, PM, Mamata express grief, CM Omar questions why pilgrims were not stopped
At least 20 people were injured in the landslide triggered by heavy, relentless rain and are undergoing treatment in different hospitals, officials said. With fears that more people could be trapped, rescue teams are continuing to dig through the mounds of rubble to look for survivors. While 30 bodies were recovered from the debris, two of those injured died in hospital.
The pilgrimage to the shrine was suspended when the mountainside literally gave way and stones, boulders, and rocks came hurtling down around 3 PM on Tuesday, catching people unawares. The landslide struck near the Inderprastha Bhojnalaya at Adhkwari, about halfway along the winding 12-km trek from Katra to the shrine.
There are two routes up to the shrine — while the yatra had been suspended on the Himkoti trek route since morning on Tuesday, it was going on along the old route till afternoon, when authorities decided to suspend it as a precautionary measure.
Unrelenting, torrential rain for days together has created havoc in the Jammu region. On August 14, a cloudburst triggered flash floods in Chisoti, the last motorable village en route to the Machail Mata shrine in Kishtwar district, leaving behind a trail of death and destruction. At least 65 people, mostly pilgrims, were killed, more than 100 injured, and 32 are still missing.
President Droupadi Murmu on Wednesday said the loss of lives due to the landslide was extremely distressing and prayed for the success of relief and rescue operations.
“The tragic incident of the death of several devotees in a landslide on the pilgrimage route to the Mata Vaishno Devi Temple is extremely distressing. I express my deepest condolences to the bereaved families and pray for the success of the relief and rescue operations,” the President said in a post in Hindi on X.
Expressing grief at the loss of lives in the tragedy, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said the administration is assisting all those affected in the incident.
“The loss of lives due to a landslide on the route to the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Temple is saddening. My thoughts are with the bereaved families. May the injured recover at the earliest. The administration is assisting all those affected. My prayers for everyone’s safety and well-being,” Modi said on X.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Wednesday also expressed grief over the deaths and questioned why officials did not stop pilgrims from treading the track when there was a warning of the calamity.
Talking to reporters, the Chief Minister said:
“We will have to talk about it later. When we knew about the weather, should we not have taken certain steps to save those lives? The weather warning had come to us a few days ago.”
Omar further questioned officials:
“Why were these people on the track? Why were they not stopped? Why were they not moved to a safe place? This has to be discussed later. We feel sorrow over the loss of 29 to 30 precious lives.”
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge described as “extremely heartbreaking” the death of 32 people in the Vaishno Devi landslide and conveyed his condolences to the affected families.
“The news of the death of 32 people due to heavy rains and landslides on the Mata Vaishno Devi route in Jammu and Kashmir is extremely heartbreaking. I express my deepest condolences to all the affected families and pray for the speedy recovery of the injured,” he said in a post on X.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday expressed her concerns over heavy rain-triggered disasters in Jammu and Kashmir and extended her solidarity to the people there.
“The natural disasters in Jammu and Kashmir (due to a landslide on the way to Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Temple) have kept us worried, and I express my solidarity for the people there,” Mamata posted on X.
She also wished a speedy recovery for the injured in the natural disasters in the state and prayed for the safety of those stranded in the area.
“The loss of lives saddens me, and I extend my condolences to the bereaved families. I also pray for the injured and wish them a speedy recovery. May Maa Vaishno Devi give them speedy healing. Prayers for the affected and the stranded, too,” the Chief Minister added.
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