Cloudburst near Amarnath shrine in J&K, no casualties reported

A cloudburst has been reported near the holy Amarnath Cave in Jammu and Kashmir. No casualties or injuries have been reported in the incident. 

As per initial information, there has been damage to the BSF and CRPF camps in this incident.

It is said that no devotee was present inside the Amarnath Cave when the cloud burst. Two teams of SDRF are already in the holy cave. An additional team of SDRF has been sent from Ganderbal. The J&K administration had cancelled Amarnath Yatra this year in wake of the coronavirus pandemic. However, the rituals were allowed to be performed at the shrine.

This was the third cloudburst reported on Wednesday after Kishtwar in J&K and Manali in Himachal Pradesh.

Home Minister Amit Shah spoke to Manoj Sinha, LG of Jammu and Kashmir. Taking to microblogging website Twitter, Shah wrote, "Regarding cloudburst near the holy cave of Baba Amarnath, I have talked to the LG of Jammu and Kashmir Shri Manoj Sinha ji. NDRF teams are being sent there for relief operations and an accurate assessment of the situation."

बाबा अमरनाथ की पवित्र गुफा के पास बादल फटने के संबंध में मैंने जम्मू-कश्मीर के LG श्री मनोज सिन्हा जी से बात कर जानकारी ली है। राहत कार्यों व स्थिति के सटीक आकलन के लिए NDRF की टीमें वहाँ भेजी जा रही हैं।

— Amit Shah (@AmitShah) July 28, 2021

On the other hand, as many as seven people have died while 14 others are still missing after a cloudburst in the Gulabgarh area of Kishtwar district of Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday morning.

According to Jammu police, a total of 17 people have been rescued out of which five are critically injured. It further said that the rescue operation is on to search for the missing people.

The Indian Army, State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) team, and local police have launched a recuse operation.

According to the Kishtwar district deputy commissioner, eight-nine houses have been damaged in the Honzar village of the district.

(With agency inputs)