On 25th day of Shri Amarnathji Yatra 2,512 Yatris paid obeisance and, till date, 2,07,842 pilgrims had Darshan at the Holy Cave Shrine.Today morning a Maruti Eeco Van carrying ten passengers of whom six were Yatris and four locals, plunged into Liddar Nallah at Chandanwari, near the Access Control Gate. A Yatri, Girdhari Lal s/o Panna Lal, age 65 years, of District Dhar, Madhya Pradesh, lost his life in this unfortunate accident. Seven seriously injured passengers, namely Ms. Najma Begum and Ms. Gulzari Bibi residents of Chandanwari and Yatris, Shri Madan Singh s/o Shri Amar Singh; Shri Dev Karan s/o Shri Kailash, Mrs. Narmada w/o Shri Dev Karan; Shri Shanker Giri s/o Shri Bola Giri, all residents of Madhya Pradesh, and Venu Gopal Rao of Banglore, were air lifted by the Shrine Board, by helicopter, to SKIMS, Srinagar for specialised treatment.
Shri Atul Gupta, Camp Director Chandanwari, and Shri Shiv Kumar Gupta, Camp Director Pahalgam, coordinated the immediate rescue and relief measures with the assistance of officers of J&K Police, CRPF, Army and Health Department available at Chandanwari and Pahalgam.On the directions of the Governor N.N. Vohra, Chairman of Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board, CEO, Shri P.K. Tripathi, immediately contacted the State Secretary Health and Director SKIMS, Srinagar, and secured all required help for the immediate treatment of the injured persons. The Chairman has also directed CEO to also arrange to send all the injured pilgrims home by air, as soon as they are discharged. The next of kin of the deceased pilgrim has been contacted and the Shrine Board is arranging to send the dead body by air to the deceased’s family.Governor has asked CEO, to provide ex-gratia relief of Rs. 1.00 lakh in favour of the next of kin of the deceased.