Lucky escape for 5 Odias stranded near Amarnath shrine

BHUBANESWAR: Five Odias, who were stranded near Amarnath shrine in Jammu and Kashmir due to flash flood triggered by a cloudburst, reached Jammu safely on Sunday. The pilgrims from Rayagada district said they escaped from the jaws of death.
Basanta Senapati, Soumyaranjan Patra, Nihar Ranjan Patra, Rabi Kumar and Tukuna Pradhan from Rayagada district had left for Amarnath Yatra on July 1 and reached the basecamp of the holy shrine on July 6. They had started their journey from Panchtarni, a rest camp for the Amarnath Yatra, on July 8 morning and paid obeisance to the god at 5pm on the same day.

“After darshan, we were taking a rest inside a tent near the holy cave. After around 30 minutes, heavy rain lashed the area and a flash flood entered our tent. We ran for shelter to save our lives. We could not get time to bring our shoes and bags with hard cash and other items. Flood waters were passing us from three sides of the higher land where we were standing. It swept away other tents too,” said Senapati over phone from Jammu.
He said the security personnel told them to leave the place immediately and return to Panchtarni. “We cut open plastic bottles and used them as shoes with the help of clothes. We did an arduous journey of around 16km in the night time to reach Panchtarni at around 3am on Saturday. After resting for a few hours, we again started our journey to Baltal by foot only and reached there by 7.30pm on Saturday. We had taken a few cucumbers and lemon water as food and drink due to lack of hard cash with us,” he added.
Senapati said they had released a video requesting the Odisha government to help them. “Our district collector called us while we were coming to Baltal. She arranged bus tickets and other facilities through CRPF officers to return to Jammu. We boarded a bus of the Jammu and Kashmir State Road Transport Corporation (JKSRTC) at 3am on Sunday and reached Jammu at around 7pm in the evening. We will leave for Delhi at 11.30am on Monday,” he added.
Swadha Dev Singh, collector of Rayagada district, said they are in contact with the people from Rayagada, who were stranded during Amarnath Yatra. “We managed to connect them with the relief camp set up at Baltal by Ganderbal district administration where they reached last night. Early on Sunday morning, they were provided with a transportation facility by JKSRTC to Jammu,” she added.
The collector said they have already reached Jammu by Sunday evening. “Fortunately, they're all safe and in good spirits. We are sure they will get back to Rayagada safely,” she added.