(Baltal) Sixteen people have died in Indian Kashmir after a flash flood devastated a Hindu pilgrimage site on Friday, authorities said on Saturday.
Posted at 8:52
Rescuers continued to search for dozens of missing people among the approximately 10,000 people camped near the Amarnath temple, nestled in a cave in the Himalayan mountains.
PHOTO MUKHTAR KHAN, ASSOCIATED PRESS
“We have found 16 bodies so far and at least 40 are missing,” an official with the state’s disaster response agency, who requested anonymity, told AFP.
Caused by a storm, the flood washed away hundreds of tents.
The remains of the victims but also an unspecified number of wounded were evacuated by helicopter.
On this annual pilgrimage — which did not take place in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic — hundreds of thousands of people trek for days across rugged mountain passes to reach the shrine.
PHOTO MUKHTAR KHAN, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Visitors pay homage to a large ice formation they believe to be an incarnation of Shiva, the Hindu god of destruction.
“Condolences to the bereaved families,” Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted on Friday evening.
In 1996, 243 people died during this pilgrimage, when a snowstorm hit the area.