Hopes of finding survivors fading
Avtar Bhat
JAMMU, July 10: Though Army has pressed heavy machinery in service to restore the track to holy cave of Shri Amarnathji, hopes of finding those missing in the Amarnath flash floods of Friday alive are fading by the hour even as the rescuers are making last-ditch efforts to look for any survivor.
This has put a question mark over the claims of the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) about the Radio Frequency Identification Tag (RFID) provided to yatris which seems has not worked.
“The rescue operations are going on as personnel from various agencies are clearing the debris in the hope of finding any survivor,” a State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) official said.
He said most of the debris clearance is being done at the areas pointed at by sniffer dogs.
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“We are still hopeful but anyone still alive under that debris will be a miracle,” the official said.
He said there has been no breakthrough as far as finding the survivors or even recovering a new body is concerned.
Besides, sniffer dogs, the rescuers are also using hand-held thermal imagers and other sophisticated devices to check for any sign of life under the mounds of debris.
Meanwhile, the Army has pressed heavy machinery into service in order to restore the route to the cave shrine at the earliest.
“Army engineers are working round the clock to clear the debris and restore the route to the holy cave,” the official said.
Army jawans are supplementing the efforts of JCB excavators in clearing the route to the cave housing a naturally formed Ice-Lingam.
An excavator is being pulled by hundreds of Army jawans to debris site to clear the track. The cutters have also been used by the Army to clear the debris to find out the bodies, officials said.
The official, however, added that inclement weather can play spoilsport in the restoration efforts.
They said that the remaining pilgrims stranded near holy cave in tents were brought by special choppers to Panjtarni today. The track to holy cave which has been damaged due to flash floods on Friday has not been restored yet and the yatra remained suspended for the second consecutive day today as well.
Officials said that over 3000 stranded pilgrims left from Panchtarni towards Baltal to leave for their native places today. Many pilgrims have also reached Pahalgam to leave for their native places from Sheshnag and Panchtarni without performing darshan of Ice Lingam at cave shrine following the tragedy of Friday in which 16 pilgrims have died while 40 are still missing.
Officials are, however, hopeful of resuming the yatra tomorrow as the SASB has constructed by pass track to avoid the damaged track. A spokesman of the SASB said a new approach track for both entry and exit has been constructed and efforts are on to resume the yatra tomorrow first by allowing the stranded pilgrims at Panchtarni for darshan.
The old track has not been fully restored and in view of JCB being brought to clear the debris by tonight the restoration of yatra through this track by tomorrow is not possible.
Officials said that the Army, NDRF,SDRF,BSF, CRPF and JKP rescue teams are on the job to clear the track and find out the missing with the help of sniffer dogs.
The weather also remained cloudy today and it rained for some time earlier in the day in the yatra area which created impediments in rescue operations.
Officials said no body was traced today nor any missing person was found.
Sources said there are about 10,000 pilgrims at Baltal this time while over 4000 are at Panchtarni.
Sources said 4000 pilgrims are at Nunwan base camp in Pahalgam, while over 3500 are outside in lodges and hotels.
Hundreds of pilgrims are also camping at Sheshnag and Chandanwari camps waiting for the signal about resumption of yatra and clearance of the track.
So far, 1.12 lakh have pilgrims performed darshan of Ice Lingam in holy cave since the 43 day long yatra started on June 30.
However, stranded yatris in Ramban and Jammu are in high spirits saying that they will not return to their home States but visit holy cave to perform the darshan of Bhole Baba at any cost.
Some groups of yatris from Gwalior (MP) and Maharashtra said that they have surrendered every- thing to Lord Shiva and he will take care of them. “We will go for darshan and rest is up to Bhole Baba”, they said, adding they will not return to their home States without performing darshan.
Meanwhile, the yatra from Jammu will remain suspended tomorrow also. District Development Commissioner, Jammu Avny Lavasa told Excelsior that so far administration have not received any communication from Shrine Board of resuming yatra from Jammu tomorrow which was suspended yesterday.
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