Five more Amarnath pilgrims die, toll mounts to 19

Srinagar, Jul 1: Five more devotees died due to cardiac arrest at Pahalgam and Baltal base camps pushing the death toll in the ongoing annual Amarnath pilgrimage to 19. 





Megha Gupta, aged 24 years, a resident of Chandigarh, suffered a massive heart attack at Pahalgam last night while on her way to the Amarnath cave shrine, police said.  64-year-old Jagbir Singh from Haryana and Rinku (55) from Tamil Nadu died at Sonamarg on shorter Baltal route, they said.

Hailing from Madhya Pradesh, 83-year-old Babu Singh died at Baltal base camp after paying obeisance at 3,880-mt high shrine housing the naturally-formed ice lingam of Lord Shiva.

An unidentified man was found dead at Domail, police said.

With this, the death toll since the commencement of the annual pilgrimage to the Amarnath shrine in south Kashmir Himalayas rose to 19, they said.

The Yatra commenced on June 25 from twin tracks of Baltal in Ganderbal district and Pahalgam in Anantnag, and over one lakh pilgrims have so far offered prayers at the shrine.

The pilgrimage is going on smoothly from both the routes, the officials said.