Onlykashmir.in News Desk
At least 39 pilgrims on the Amarnath Yatra were injured on Tuesday when their bus skidded off the road near Hariganiwan in the Gund area of Ganderbal district, prompting an emergency response from multiple security and medical agencies stationed along the pilgrimage route.
The bus, bearing registration number AR11D/5655, met with the accident on a notoriously treacherous stretch known locally as the S Mode section, an area that has seen previous incidents involving Yatra traffic during the annual pilgrimage season. The exact cause of the accident is still being investigated by authorities.
A joint rescue operation involving the CRPF, ITBP, Army units and Civil Police personnel, alongside health department staff, was mounted swiftly to evacuate the injured. All 39 pilgrims were first taken to the Sub District Hospital in Kangan before being shifted to SKIMS Soura in Srinagar for specialised treatment, given the tertiary care facilities available there.
Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha and Health Minister Sakeena Itoo separately visited the hospital to review the treatment being provided to the injured Yatris. Both directed attending officials to ensure the highest standard of medical care and support for the pilgrims, many of whom are believed to be from outside the Union Territory and travelling without immediate family support in the region.
The Amarnath Yatra, one of the largest annual pilgrimages in the country, draws hundreds of thousands of devotees each year to the cave shrine in the Himalayas, with routes passing through some of the most challenging mountain terrain in Jammu and Kashmir. Security and administrative agencies typically deploy extensive convoy protocols, medical camps and rescue teams along the route precisely because of the accident risk posed by narrow, winding roads through Ganderbal and neighbouring districts.
Tuesday’s accident is likely to renew scrutiny of road conditions along frequently used Yatra stretches, even as authorities stress that swift coordination between security forces and hospitals helped ensure all injured pilgrims received prompt medical attention. Officials have not indicated any disruption to the wider Yatra schedule as a result of the incident, though further updates on the condition of the injured are expected as treatment continues at SKIMS.
The administration’s response, involving simultaneous visits from the Lieutenant Governor and a serving Cabinet Minister, underscores the priority placed on pilgrim safety during a Yatra season that remains central to the Union Territory’s religious tourism calendar.
