Five killed, 14 injured in landslide on route to Vaishno Devi shrine

Jammu, Aug 26 (PTI) Relentless heavy rain led to a landslide 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 pm, catching people unawares.

Rescue operations are underway near the Inderprastha Bhojnalaya at Adhkwari, officials said. The landslide struck at a point about halfway along the winding 12-km trek from Katra to the hilltop shrine.

There are two routes up to the shrine -- while the yatra had been suspended on the Himkoti trek route since morning, it was going on on the old route till 1.30 pm when authorities decided to suspend it till further orders in view of the torrential rain.

"In an unfortunate incident of landslide at Adhkwari, 5 people have lost their lives and 14 others have been injured. Rescue operations underway," the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board said in a post on X.

Kiran, from Mohali in Punjab, was among those caught in the hail of stones, trees and boulders.

"I was coming down the hill after performing darshan when people started shouting. I saw stones falling down. I rushed to safety but was injured," Kiran told reporters from a hospital bed in Katra.

"We were a group of five out of which three are injured," added another girl, traumatised by her narrow escape. Three days of continuous rain has wreaked havoc across many parts of Jammu. PTI TAS SKL MIN MIN MIN