The death toll in the Vaishno Devi landslide has gone up to 34, officials said , a day after disaster struck the route on the hilltop shrine in Jammu and Kashmir’s Reasi district.
At least 20 people were injured in the landslide triggered by heavy, relentless rain, the officials said.
According to PTI, The pilgrimage to the shrine was suspended when the mountainside literally gave way and stones, boulders and rocks came hurtling down around 3 pm on Tuesday, catching people unawares.
Among the dead, 24 have been identified so far. Of them 14 are women. Some of the pilgrims hailed from Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Maharashtra. Among the unidentified 10 bodies, four are of women.
The landslide struck at a point about halfway along the winding 12-km trek from Katra to the shrine.
Telecom services also got partially restored after remaining suspended for over 22 hours, while Chief Minister Omar Abdullah rushed to Jammu from Srinagar to personally review the situation in the region.
