Srinagar: Three more devotees died of
cardiac arrest taking the death toll to 80 during the ongoing
pilgrimage to the holy cave shrine of Amarnath, officials said
on Monday.
76-year-old M R Verma, a resident of Uttar Pradesh,
breathed his last at the 3880-mt high cave shrine this morning
shortly after complaining of severe chest pain.
Anand Soni, aged 31, who hailed from Rajasthan, and
62-year-old Lekh Ram from Madhya Pradesh died of heart attack
at Pisu top and Sheshnag halting stations respectively.
Their deaths took the number of fatalities during the
ongoing yatra to the revered shrine, housing the naturally
formed ice shivlingam, in south Kashmir Himalayas to 76, they
said.
In addition, four Muslim porters died while guiding
the pilgrims through arduous tracks since the commencement of
the 46-day pilgrimage on June 29, the officials said.
The yatra is going on smoothly from both the routes --
shortest Baltal track in Ganderbal district and traditional
Pahalgam base camp in Anantnag district.
The officials said 14,016 pilgrims proceeded towards
the cave shrine from Baltal base camp and 6,558 from Nunwan in
Pahalgam this morning.
So far, 4.35 lakh pilgrims had visited the shrine to
pay obeisance to Lord Shiva, the officials said.
PTI
