Flood, landslides, rains devastate J&K

Toll in the landslide near the Vaishno Devi shrine rose to 32 on Wednesday; rescue on

- Ravi Krishnan Khajuria

The death toll in Vaishno Devi landslide rose to 32 on Wednesday, about halfway along the winding 12-km trek from Katra to the shrine, with rescuers scouring the debris to look for survivors, officials said.

“At least 32 dead bodies have been recovered so far. Around 23 injured have been admitted to different hospitals,” the officials said.

Amid heavy rains a massive landslide hit a shed near Adhkuwari enroute the cave shrine on Tuesday around 3pm. While bodies of nine pilgrims were retrieved late Tuesday, 23 more were recovered on Wednesday taking the toll to 32.

Reasi SSP Paramvir Singh said, “Rescue operations are on and once they are over, we would be able to give exact toll figures”.

Piyush Dhotra, SDM Katra, also refused to share exact figure of fatalities