landslide Hits Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Track at Ban Ganga in Jammu and Kashmir: 9 injured

One pilgrim was killed and nine others injured after a landslide rocked the old track to the Vaishno Devi shrine in Reasi district of Jammu and Kashmir on Monday, officials said.

According to them, a booking office and an overhead iron building succumbed to the land slide caused by heavy rains that hammered Katra town, the base camp of the pilgrims who arrive to visit the shrine on top of Trikuta hills.

As a precautionary measure the yatra to the shrine has been called off.

This took place at 8.30 am at Gulshan Ka Langar near Banganga, which is the very beginning of the yatra where ponies are mounted by the riders who assemble along the ancient pathway and get the pilgrims signed before taking them to the shrine which is 12km inside the town.

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The landslide has led to the serious injured part of three individuals, and seven other people have sustained minor injuries. The officiating chief executive officer of Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board, Sachin Kumar Vaishya told reporters all the injured were rushed to a hospital.

The district magistrate Jammu, Vaishya, also rushed to the spot and explained that a rescue and debris clearance exercise is already on.

A earth-mover had also been brought to the site to accelerate the rescue procedures.

Uppan, 70, of Chennai, and his wife K Radha, 66, Uppan, and Rajinder Bhalla, 70, of Haryana were under treatment in Narayan Hospital but Leela Raikwar, 56, of Uttar Pradesh was in community health centres in Katra said the officials.

The officials were quoted as saying that one of the critically injured pilgrims had died of the injuries.

Jammu and Kashmir lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha said he is sad over the incident, and is getting updates. “I am deeply saddened by the tragic landslide incident at Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine in which a devotee unfortunately lost his life. Directed the Shrine Board to provide best possible medical care and support to the injured pilgrims. I’m constantly monitoring the situation,” Sinha wrote on X.

Suresh Kumar, 66 years of Maharashtra and two local inhabitants Nikhil Thakur and Vicky Sharma were discharged after primary care. “I was inside the booking office when stones started hitting the overhead iron structure and we alerted others and rushed out fearing a landslide,” Thakur spoke on the phone after he was treated hospitalily at the community health centre because of his foot injury. He explained that they were few people who were praying and pony riders around the scene and it was raining heavily.

A total of 184.2mm of rain was received in the past 24 hours till 8.30am on Monday in the Katra town as registered by the meteorological department.

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The new track had also gotten blocked by another landslide Sunday night near Himkoti and they are trying to reinstate this track.

In reaction to a landslide in the general location of Katra, soldiers of White Knight Corps were quickly assembled to help with relief and rescue operations in conjunction with civil jurisdictions. Rapid assistance was rendered to the local victims who also saw the persistence of Army in assisting the people.

“Rescue and support operations currently in progress. We serve, we Protect!” the Army’s White Knight Corps said in a post on X.

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