Hopes of finding those missing in the Amarnath flash floods alive are fading by the hour even as the rescuers are making last-ditch efforts to look for any survivor and the Army has pressed heavy machinery into service to restore the track to the holy cave shrine in the south Kashmir Himalayas, officials said on Sunday.
A flash flood triggered by a cloudburst near the cave shrine on Friday afternoon has led to the death of least 16 people. Around 40 people are still missing.
"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.
"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 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.
The official, however, added that inclement weather can play spoilsport in the restoration efforts.
IAF evacuates pilgrims
Meanwhile, the Indian Air Force (IAF) evacuated 34 injured pilgrims from the medical facility at the Amarnath yatra base camp to a hospital here on Sunday.
“An additional 34 injured pilgrims were evacuated by IAF Mi-17 V5 and Cheetal helicopters on Sunday,” a defence spokesperson said here.
He said the IAF choppers also airlifted 20 National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) personnel, along with six canines, from Srinagar to take part in the search operation to trace the missing people believed to be stuck under debris.
Lt Governor visits Nunwan camp
Meanwhile, Jammu and Kashmir Lt Governor Manoj Sinha on Sunday visited the Nunwan base camp at Pahalgam to oversee efforts for the resumption of Amarnath yatra which has been suspended in the aftermath of the flash floods on July 8, officials said.
Mr. Sinha will camp overnight at Nunwan to oversee rescue and relief operations and efforts being made to resume the yatra as soon as possible, an official spokesperson said.
Mr. Sinha also interacted with yatris staying there and reviewed arrangements at healthcare facilities and ‘langars’, the official added.
Interacting with the pilgrims, Mr. Sinha observed that providing better facilities to them is the government’s top priority.
He said dedicated measures are being taken to ensure the safety and well-being of the pilgrims.
The Lt. Governor lauded the efforts and swift action of the Army, CAPFs, NDRF and civil administration during the rescue and relief operation for saving the precious lives.
Earlier, during the meeting with officials at the Nunwan Base camp, Sinha was briefed about the rescue and relief operations, debris clearance, deployment of machinery and manpower, camp-wise breakdown of pilgrims, besides arrangements and efforts put in to facilitate the pilgrims, the official added.
The Amarnath Yatra has been suspended from Jammu due to inclement weather conditions and no fresh batch was allowed to proceed from here to the base camps of the 3,880-metre-high cave shrine in south Kashmir Himalayas, officials said.
"Amarnath Yatra has been suspended from Jammu to twin base camps in Kashmir due to inclement weather. No fresh batch was allowed to move towards Amarnath," an official said.
The annual 43-day pilgrimage commenced from the twin base camps -- Nunwan-Pahalgam in south Kashmir's Anantnag and Baltal in central Kashmir's Ganderbal -- on June 30.
Over one lakh pilgrims have offered prayers at the cave shrine, the officials said.
A total of 69,535 pilgrims had left in 10 batches from the Bhagwati Nagar base camp in Jammu for the Valley since June 29, the day the first batch of pilgrims was flagged off by Lt Governor Manoj Sinha.
37 AP pilgrims untraced
Meanwhile, 63 people from Beed in Maharashtra got stranded during the Amarnath pilgrimage and they were later rescued and taken to Jammu, Srinagar and other places, a district administration official said on Sunday.
"They have now been rescued and taken to places like Jammu, Srinagar, Baltal and Delhi. They are safe," the official said
Even as 84 pilgrims from various parts of Andhra Pradesh were reported safe and were in contact with their relatives as well as authorities, the number of pilgrims from Andhra Pradesh missing in the Amarnath yatra cloudburst tragedy increased to 37 on Sunday evening as relatives called the authorities and informed that their kin remain untraced.
Meanwhile, the two women from Rajamahendravaram remained untraced in the Amarnath tragedy.
"Their husbands returned to Srinagar but the women were still missing. They may have been injured or reached some other place. We are conducting the search operation to trace them," a senior official involved with the rescue mission said.
The local Revenue Divisional Officer visited the kin of the two women in Rajamahendravaram on Sunday and discussed the situation.
A 38-member team from Guntur, a 17-member team from Tadepalligudem, a six-member team from Tirupati and another pilgrim from Vizianagaram were also reported safe.
A few pilgrims from Rajampet in Kadapa district were also reported safe but their number was not clear, according to government data.
The state government dispatched AP Bhavan additional resident commissioner Himanshu Kaushik to Srinagar to coordinate with the local authorities and ensure safety of AP pilgrims, an official release here said.
Helplines were also set up in the AP Bhavan in New Delhi for any assistance to pilgrims and their relatives, the release added.
