Amarnath tragedy: When pilgrimage turned nightmare for city pilgrims

Ludhiana: It was a narrow escape for a group of friends from Ludhiana and surrounding areas, who were witness to the devastating cloudburst near the Amarnath cave shrine on Friday, which claimed 16 lives and injured several others. Many people were reported missing following the flash floods too.
The Ludhiana group comprising 19 friends had to run from a langar site where they had kept their bags and shoes to save their lives. Later, defence personnel helped them reach safe zones. They were among a large number of pilgrims from across India who were stranded near the cave shrine following the flash floods on Friday.
TOI talked to the group and several others from Ludhiana who shared the horrifying scenes and a tale of survival.
Sunny Kapoor, 40, of Mohalla Fatehgunj, said, “We, a group of 19 friends, had reached Neelgrath helipad, near Sonamarg, on July 7 where we stayed for a night. On July 8 afternoon, we reached Panjtarni, via a chopper, around 3pm. Thereafter, we took horses and reached the cave shrine around 5.15pm.”
“We came down around 5.30pm. We reached the Shadra langar site where we had kept our bags and shoes. We were wearing our shoes when we heard a loud sound and saw a heavy flow of water and stones coming down from near the holy cave. It looked like a landslide. We ran from there without realizing that our bags and mobile phones were left at the langar site,” Kapoor said.
“But a little later, two of my friends rushed to the langar site and picked our bags. We ran from there to the opposite direction to save our lives. But the stones damaged the Shadra langar site. We somehow reached the other side of the area. There we saw how people were washed away in the flash floods,” Kapoor added.
“I cannot forget those heart-wrenching scenes when people were running for their lives. We had no idea what would happen next. Then some BSF personnel who were present there took us to the safe place. The defence personnel accompanied us to Panjtarni. They walked with us for about six hours to reach the site. We cannot thank them enough,” he said.
Kapoor also shared how three of their group members — Mukesh Galhotra, Sonu Kapoor and Navreet Jain (all residents of Miller Gunj) — got separated from the group after the flash floods. “We were worried for them as they could not be contacted. However, they too reached Panjtarni in the early hours on Saturday.”
Naveen Malhotra, a hosiery trader from Division number 3 area, was also among pilgrims who had a close shave. He said, “I was at the Shadra langar site when suddenly I heard noises. I rushed outside and a few seconds later, heavy stones damaged the entire langar set up. I could have been crushed under the debris, if I had not rushed out.”
Sagar Arora, 33, a bank manager from Tilak Nagar of Ludhiana, said, “I along with my friends Shubham Monga and Sumit Bansal had gone to the yatra. On July 7, we reached the holy cave and decided to stay up there, as we had gone there for the first time. We spent a night there and by next afternoon we left for Baltal. When we reached Dumail, the actual beginning point of the Yatra, we saw ambulances with injured people. When we came to know about the incident, we were literally shocked. Hadn’t we spent a night at the lower cave area, anything could have happened to us.”
Rajan Kapoor, president of Shri Amarnath Yatra Bhandara Organisation (SAYBO), said, “Three community kitchens, including Shadram Kurali and Mansa langars and many tents were completely damaged in the flash floods. Flash floods had occurred at the same sate in 2018 and 2020. The shrine board must not allow installation of tents and organize langars at these sites as the water would certainly accumulate here in case of heavy rain, flood or cloudburst. The board should allow them to install tents and hold langars at safe places or must ensure required safety measures. Besides, the workers of all these three langar sites are still up there and needed to be rescued by helicopters.”
‘Locals hiked prices of basic items’
Saurav Ralhan, 34, of Dugri shared, “After the flash flood, the army personnel helped us reach Panjtarni. By night, there were over 10,000 people at Panjtarni which could accommodate just about 5,000 people. The locals had hiked the prices of basic necessities, like water bottles and tents, by manyfold. A water bottle worth Rs 20 was being sold for Rs 150. The tent which usually is available for Rs 100 to Rs 200 was being given for Rs 5,000 for one night. In fact, the defence personnel there were making announcements for them to accommodate pilgrims for free, however nobody listened to them.”