Cloudburst in Amarnath: Death toll rises to 13, many still missing; army deploys six rescue teams

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday took to Twitter to express his anguish at the cloud burst near the Amarnath cave and extended his condolences to the bereaved families. He also spoke to the Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, Manoj Sinha, and took stock of the situation and offered all the help he needed.The toll in the deadly cloud burst at the lower Amarnath Holy Cave on Friday has now risen to 13 and many yatris are still missing.Earlier Home Minister Amit Shah too spoke to Sinha and inquired about the situation. The Amarnath Yatra has been temporarily suspended. However, if the weather remains normal and makeshift arrangements are made, then the yatra can be resumed tomorrow, ANI quoted the ITBP PRO.Sinha too took to Twitter that he is monitoring the situation closely:A cloud burst was reported around 5.30 pm at the lower Amarnath Holy Cave on Friday. Ten bodies have been recovered so far. The Kashmir Zone Police has tweeted that the injured have been airlifted for treatment. The National Disaster Response Force, State Disaster Response Force, Indo-Tibetan Border Police, Indian Army and other associated agencies have swung into action and rescue operations are on.Kashmir Inspector General of Police (IGP) Vijay Kumar has said that the situation is under control.Meanwhile, the Indian Army has launched six rescue teams including army helicopters for aid of yatris in the cloud burst-affected area at lower Amarnath Cave site.Meanwhile, the Indian Air Force assets including helicopters and personnel are on standby to launch rescue and relief operations at the Amarnath cave site.Rescue ops using gen-sets and Alaska lights will be on all night.According to reports, two langers and 25 tents have been washed away due to the heavy flow of water near the cave. A few people are reportedly missing. Further details are awaited.Earlier, due to bad weather along both Baltal and Pahalgam routes, movement of pilgrims were restricted.This comes only two days after a cloudburst in Kullu that claimed five lives.With input from agenciesRead all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News,India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.