Jammu, Aug 28
Thirty-five bodies have been recovered so far in the Mata Vaishno Devi shrine route landslide tragedy as floods wreaked havoc in the Jammu division of J&K.
The Trikuta Hills landslide occurred on Tuesday, and the officials of the Katra Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board said that 35 bodies have been recovered so far from the debris near Ardhkuwari.
So far, 22 of these bodies have been identified. Most of them hailed from Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. The families of many of them have reached Katra, and the bodies after completion of the legal formalities, are being handed over to their relatives, officials said.
Mata Vaishno Devi Yatra was suspended after the tragedy, but was restored through the old route on Wednesday evening.
“Army, Police and SDRF men were still engaged in a rescue operation. The entire work is being carried out manually as it is not possible to use JCBs there,” officials said.
At least 20 people were injured in this landslide triggered by incessant heavy rain and are undergoing treatment in different hospitals. The landslide struck near the Inderprastha Bhojnalaya at Ardhkuwari, about halfway along the 11-km trek from Katra to the shrine, at around 3 p.m. on Tuesday.