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CALCUTTA, India – Sudden flooding caused by a burst of clouds killed at least 16 people during an annual Hindu pilgrimage to a cave in the Himalayan mountains in the Kashmir region of India.
Officials made a massive rescue effort as 40 more were missing on Saturday. The eruption of clouds that occurred in the area of a Hindu sacred cave about 75 miles west of Srinagar the day before stopped the pilgrimage to Amarnath.
Approximately 15,000 pilgrims were transported to a base camp at a lower altitude, and rescue workers used helicopters to move those stranded through the cave.
“First it started to rain slowly, which is normal at this altitude. Then all of a sudden we felt a loud bang, like an explosion, “said Manzoor Ahmad Lone, 31, a photographer who said he had been camping near the cave every year since 2012.” I feel lucky to have to be alive, “Lone said.
Local media video shows flooding from the hills as loudspeakers tell people to leave the area. Eyewitnesses reported seeing huge truck-sized rocks fall from the top of the hills as torrents swept tents and kitchens. Rescue work was hampered by the difficulty of moving heavy machinery to the region. Army personnel worked with hand tools to clean up the debris.
“We were terrified by what we saw,” an eyewitness told the ANI news agency. This year, more than 300,000 pilgrims had signed up for the trip to see the Amarnath shivling, a natural ice stalagmite considered a form of the god Shiva, at an altitude of nearly 4,000 meters above sea level. The walk to the cave can be done on foot or by pony. About 80,000 people had completed the pilgrimage this year.
“We ran quickly to higher ground for safety. But not everyone was so lucky or so fast. We could hear people crying out for help,” said Lone, the photographer. “They were buried under piles of rocks and rubble.”
“We evacuated about 100 wounded. There are still people buried here, “Lieutenant General Amardeep Singh Aujla told reporters at Sangam base camp.” We hope to remove them in the next 24 hours. “
With rescue operations underway, the death toll is expected to rise. Cloudbursts are not unknown in the region, but the growing frequency of extreme weather events has alarmed researchers and activists. The last major flood in the valley occurred in 2014. The rapid urbanization and erosion of natural wetlands has made the region especially vulnerable to a changing climate.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted his condolences and spoke with local officials about the rescue efforts. “Rescue and relief operations are underway. All possible assistance is being provided to those affected,” he said.
This was the first pilgrimage in three years after a shutdown due to the coronavirus pandemic. In 2019, the government stopped the pilgrimage halfway and asked people to step back days before revoking Kashmir’s semi-autonomous status.
Pilgrimage has also been fraught with risks in the past. Until a few decades ago, it was only done for 15 days. In 1996, snowstorms and blizzards killed nearly 240 pilgrims. A committee set up by the government after the tragedy had recommended limiting the number of pilgrims to 100,000 each year.
Irfan reported from Srinagar.