Nearly 10,000 pilgrims visiting the Vaishno Devi temple were stranded during the annual Vaishno Devi Yatra after a raging forest fire broke out in the Trikuta hills on Wednesday 23 May, barely 50 kms from the area.
The pilgrimage which sees an average foot fall of nearly 35,000 devotees everyday, had to be suspended after the fire broke, leaving 10,000 pilgrims stranded near the Katra base camp. Another 3,000 who were supposed to go for the day trek on that day were moved to safer place near Himkoti Marg.
The Indian Air Force was called in to initiate rescue and fire-fighting operations at Katra, where two helicopters were launched to douse the fire.
As per the Indian Air Force Facebook page, the helicopters were filled with water from the Reasi water reservoir in the specially built Bambi Buckets which can carry approximately 2,500 litres of water at a time.
The first drop was done in the area of the new track from Ardhkuwari to Bhawan.
Two MI-17 helicopters of the Indian Air Force and a light utility helicopter were pressed into service to douse the fire. It is being controlled by over 200 ground staff deployed by the CRPF and the shrine board. There are no injuries to the pilgrims or any adverse reports. They have been moved to safer areas, a shrine board official told Hindustan Times.
25,000 pilgrims were already on their way to the shrine when forest fire broke out around 2 pm and the call to suspend the yatra from both routes was taken at 3 pm. By that time majority of them had reached BhawanKatra SHO Surinder Samyal to Hindustan Times
The troops of 6 Bn CRPF deployed there, alongwith local police and shrine board staff, controlled and regularized the movement of passengers which otherwise could have created panic. They also proactively involved themselves in dousing the fire with whatever resources were available with them.
The Yatra has resumed now under caution.
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