Thirty people have lost their lives after heavy rains triggered a landslide near the Vaishno Devi shrine in Jammu and Kashmir’s Katra, said Paramvir Singh, Senior Superintendent of Police, Reasi. The landslide occurred near Inderprastha Bhojnalaya at Adhkwari cave temple, located on the route to the Vaishno Devi shrine.
The death toll in the landslide near Ardhkumari at Vaishno Devi Dham in Katra, Jammu on Tuesday has risen to 30. SSP Reasi Paramvir Singh gave this information on Wednesday morning.
Till late last night, 7 people were reported dead. A rescue operation is going on. The death toll may increase further. At the same time, Vaishno Devi Yatra has been postponed due to bad weather.
Heavy Rainfall in Jammu
On Tuesday, Jammu city received more than 250mm of rain in less than 24 hours. This has led to flood-like conditions at many places. Houses and fields are flooded. Many bridges and roads are damaged due to landslides.
More than 3500 people were rescued and taken to safe places here. District administration, police, NDRF, SDRF, Indian Army are running rescue operations.
22 trains cancelled by Northern railway
Northern Railway has also canceled 22 trains running from Jammu-Katra and stopping here today. Apart from this, 27 trains have been short terminated. However, train service between Katra-Srinagar continues.
Home Minister Amit Shah called incident tragic
Meanwhile, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday termed the landslide “extremely tragic”. In a post on X, Shah stated that National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams had already been rushed to the scene soon after the incident.
“The landslide incident caused by heavy rains on the Vaishno Devi Yatra route in Jammu and Kashmir is extremely tragic. In this regard, I have spoken with the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Shri Omar Abdullah ji, and the Lieutenant Governor, Shri Manoj Sinha ji. The local administration is engaged in relief and rescue operations to assist the injured, and the NDRF team is also reaching there,” he wrote.