Relentless heavy rain led to a landslip on the route to the Mata Vaishno Devi shrine atop the Trikuta hill on Tuesday afternoon, killing at least five people and injuring 14, officials said. Several people were feared trapped. The pilgrimage to the famed shrine in Jammu and Kashmir’s Reasi district was suspended when the mountainside literally gave way and stones, boulders, and rocks came hurtling down around 3 p.m., catching people unawares.
Rescue operations are underway near the Inderprastha Bhojnalaya at Adhkwari, officials said. The landslip struck at a point about halfway along the winding 12-km trek from Katra to the hilltop shrine.
Earlier, three persons were killed and over two dozen houses and bridges were damaged as heavy rains pounded Jammu, where almost all water bodies are flowing above the danger mark, submerging a number of low-lying areas and roads in the city and elsewhere, officials said.
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said the situation in many parts of Jammu province was “quite serious” and he will be taking the next available flight from Srinagar to Jammu to personally monitor the developing situation.
The traffic on the Jammu-Srinagar and Kishtwar-Doda national highways was suspended, while dozens of hilly roads were blocked or damaged by landslides or flash floods, the officials said, adding the pilgrimage to the Mata Vaishno Devi shrine was also suspended as a precautionary measure in view of the rains.
