SRINAGAR: At least 36 Amarnath pilgrims were injured after five yatra vehicles collided near the Chanderkote area in Ramban on the Srinagar-Jammu highway on Saturday morning.
Deputy Commissioner Ramban Mohammad Alyas Khan said the last vehicle of the Amarnath yatra Pahalgam convoy allegedly lost control due to a brake failure near the Chanderkote langar site in Ramban and hit four stranded vehicles.
Five vehicles were damaged in the accident and 36 yatris were injured.
Immediately after the mishap, civil and police officials rushed to the accident site, and the injured were taken to District Hospital Ramban in ambulances.
“We received a total of 36 injured patients. All of them have minor injuries and we have got their tests conducted,” said Incharge Medical Superintendent, District Hospital Ramban, Dr Mohammad Rafi.
He said 10 of the patients have been discharged after being administered first-aid treatment.
“The rest of the injured will also be discharged within an hour or so,” he said.
The DC said since the vehicles have suffered damages in the accident, the administration has provided alternative vehicles for the yatris for their onward journey to the Amarnath cave in the south Kashmir Himalayas.
He said the administration is also providing vehicles for the yatris, who suffered minor injuries in the accident, so that they can continue their journey to the Amarnath cave.
Over 26,000 pilgrims have paid obeisance at the 3,880-metre-high Amarnath cave shrine since the start of the yatra on July 3.
The 38-day annual Amarnath yatra will conclude on August 9 on the occasion of Raksha Bandhan.
The authorities have made unprecedented security arrangements for the safe and peaceful conduct of the yatra this year, following the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack in which 25 tourists and a local ponywala were allegedly killed.