Three pilgrims die en route to Amarnath

Three pilgrims including two women died en route to the cave shrine of Amarnath in South Kashmir Himalayas on Thursday, taking the number of deaths in the course of the ongoing yatra to 28.

Three pilgrims including two women died en route to the cave shrine of Amarnath in South Kashmir Himalayas on Thursday, taking the number of deaths in the course of the ongoing yatra to 28.

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While 45-year-old Naresh Kumar from Haryana and a woman pilgrim of the same age from Mumbai Heru Pawan died of cardiac arrest, another woman devotee was killed on way to the holy cave after being hit by a helicopter which crash landed at the 3,880 metre high pilgrimage centre early on Thursday.

50-year-old Kalavati, a resident of Baitul district in Madhya Pradesh, was trekking towards the shrine when she was hit by the blades of the private chopper which developed a technical fault and hit the ground between Sangam and the Lower Camp on the periphery of the shrine.

With these three deaths the number of casualties during the yatra this season climbed to 28 including the death of two Muslim porters in a landslide soon after the yatra began this year.