Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, July 12: On the 15th day of the ongoing pilgrimage today, 18,442 yatris paid obeisance at holy Cave of Swami Amarnath in South Kashmir district of Anantnag. This is the highest number of pilgrims performing darshan on a single day in holy cave since the two month long yatra started on June 28.
This has taken the total number of pilgrims performing darshan at cave shrine so far to 1,51,923.
The yatra is proceeding smoothly form both shortest Baltal and traditional Nunwan-Pahalgam tracks with thousands of yatris leaving for holy cave daily from both the tracks, a police officer on yatra duty said.
He said 9480 yatris proceeded towards the Shrine on both Pahalgam and Baltal routes. Besides, the yatris having the night halt at Chandanwari, Sheshnag and Panjtarni transit camps also left for their onwards sojourn early this morning.
An Amarnath pilgrim from Maharashtra today died of cardiac arrest on the way to the holy cave shrine, police said.
Click here to Watch Video
Samarjeet Sarja, 52, died at Domail along the Baltal route in the south Kashmir Himalayas this morning, a police official said.
With this, the death toll in this year’s pilgrimage — which began has gone up to 22.
Thirteen Amarnath bound pilgrims were injured when a Tempo Traveller, they were traveling in from Jammu Base Camp towards Kashmir, rammed into a roadside parked truck near Birma Bridge in Udhampur today.
The accident took place around 4.30 a.m in the wee hours, this morning, when rashly driven Tempo Traveller (JK14B-7259), rammed into the truck stranded on bypass of the National Highway near Birma Bridge, under the jurisdiction of Rehambal Police Station
Immediately after the accident, Police team, led by Dy SP Headquarters, Kulbir Handa rushed to the spot and shifted all the passengers to the nearby hospital and then to District Hospital Udhampur.
The mishap took place because of rash driving and driver of the vehicle fled from the spot even as Police has registered a case in this connection and launched a hunt to nab him.
The pilgrims alleged that the vehicle was rashly driven and the driver had even attempted to overtake the Police escort also.
The injured were identified as Gourav Yadav, age 20 years, son of Rajesh Yadav of Orcha Gate, Jhansi (UP), Narender Kumar Tiwari, age 28 years, son of Babu Lal Tiwari of Unnao Gate , Jhansi (UP), Khem Raj Sahu (47), son of Prabhu Dayal of Dabrah, Gwalior (MP), his wife Manju Sahu (42), their daughter Pooja Sahu, age 23 years, Basant Lal (47), son of Brij Lal of Khushipura , Jhansi (UP), Pawan Sahu (39), son of /o Ramesh Sahu of Jhansi, near Pundit Valued Degree College, Abhishek Sahu (35) son of Munna Lal of Unnao Gate, Purani Rajai, Jhansi (UP), Manoj Yadav (30) son of Yashrath Yadav of Khodan , Jhansi, Rupesh Khare (40) son of Jagdiah Parsad of
Bhatta Gaon, Jhasni, Aman Raja (20) son of Pritam of Lal Kurti, Jhansi, Sanjay Kumar (41), son of Kanta Parsad of Bhatta Gaon, Masjid Wali Gali, Ward number 3 Jhansi and Murli Sahu (39), son of Ram Gopal Sahu of House number 71, Mewatipura inside Unnao Gate , Jhansi.
Union Minister in PMO, Dr Jitendra Singh contacted the district administration on phone to inquire about the welfare of the Amarnath pilgrims injured in road accident at Udhampur. While expressing satisfaction that all the pilgrims are out of danger, he issued directives to administration that all necessary help be provided to injured pilgrims who mostly belong to Jhansi and surrounding parts of UP.
Meanwhile the yatra convoy moved smoothly from Bhagwati Nagar Base Camp Jammu towards the Nunwan and Baltal Base camps today.
A fresh batch of 3419 Yatris left the Bhagwati Nagar Yatri Niwas early this morning under multi tier security for base camps of Nunwan and Baltal, Yatra Nodal Officer, Arun Manhas said.
He said over 4000 pilgrims are camping in Jammu at Bhagwati Nagar Yatri Niwas and other community halls and lodges of the city. Manhas said that 3200 fresh registrations were made at three yatra registration counters at Jammu today.
The unabated rush of pilgrims to holy cave from rest of the country continues as daily thousands of yatris reach Jammu through road and rail transport. The yatris are high in spirits and inclement weather conditions have failed to dampen their spirits.
Follow our WhatsApp channel