A week on, no clue to three missing pilgrims

JAMMU: A week after three pilgrims, including two sisters and a medical representative, were washed away in a flashflood triggered by a cloudburst near Kundeel village in Padder area of Kishtwar district, rescue teams have been unable to find any clues about them.

“Though the teams of police and state disaster response force (SDRF) have been deployed, there has been no clue whatsoever of the missing pilgrims,” Kishtwar deputy commissioner, Ghulam Nabi Balwan told HT.

“We are trying to locate the missing people and therefore debris scattered in the area is being searched, he added.

A missing report for the three of them has been registered at the Atholi police station, the DC added.

The two sisters Savita (18 years) and Manisha (13 years), daughters of Mangat Ram of Kuleed Chowk in Kishtwar, were part of the annual Machail Mata Yatra that involves an arduous trek of 32 kms from Gulabgarh to reach Chandi Mata temple shrine at an altitude of 9,500 feet.

The two sisters and the youth were returning to Gulabgarh base camp when the tragedy struck them.

Following the cloudburst in the upper reaches, a huge amount of slush, debris and water had hit the low-lying areas including a rivulet, which had a wooden bridge over it.

The two sisters were crossing it when they were hit by the flashfloods. Medical representative Rajesh Kumar Sharma, who was walking behind them, made an abortive bid to save the young girls but he too was swept away.