Indian rescue workers rescued thousands of pilgrims after flash floods triggered by sudden rains swept through their makeshift camps during an annual Hindu pilgrimage to an icy Himalayan cave in Indian-administered Kashmir.
The heavy rain on Friday night sent a wall of water and boulders down into a ravine, bringing with it about two dozen campsites.
- I saw the water sweeping with it men, women, shops and our belongings.
Everything was buried under the mountain, says Ravi Dutt, pilgrim.
Officials say 15,000 pilgrims have been relocated to safer places and that at least five dozen injured people received first aid at the hospitals in the base camp set up for the pilgrimage, a journey undertaken by hundreds of thousands of Hindus from across India.
The pilgrimage to Amarnath began on June 30 and tens of thousands of devotees have already visited the cave shrine where Hindus worship Lingam, a naturally formed ice phallus, as an incarnation of Shiva, the god of destruction and renewal.
This year, officials expect nearly one million visitors after a two-year hiatus due to the corona pandemic.
Hundreds of pilgrims have previously died due to exhaustion and exposure to severe weather during the journey through the icy mountains.
In 1996, thousands of people were caught in a blizzard, leading to more than 250 deaths.
See the rescue work and the testimony from the mountains in the clip above.