Five Amaranth pilgrims lost their lives and four others sustained injuries when a massive landslide hit between Railpatri and Brarimarg on the Baltal route in Ganderbal district of Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday evening. Among those killed was a woman.

Police said two of these pilgrims had died due to cardiac arrest.

The pilgrimage from both Baltal and Pahalgam routes was suspended on Wednesday because of overnight landslides and slippery condition of the trek path.

Rescue teams of NDRF and SDRF rushed to the spot to launch rescue operations. The condition of one of the injured persons was reported to be critical.

Initial reports had said one pilgrim was injured in the landslide but later two bodies were recovered from the debris, said the police.

CRPF, ITBP and J&K Police teams also joined the rescue operations.

One of the deceased has been identified as Pushkar Joshi, a resident of Uttrakhand, while the other two are Thota Radhnam (75) and Radha Krishna Sastry (65), both from Andhra Pradesh. The process to identity of the other two persons was on till last reports came in.

Meanwhile, Home Minister Rajnath Singh reached Srinagar on Wednesday to review the security situation. He will visit the Amarnath shrine on Thursday.

On Wednesday, seven Amarnath Yatra pilgrims were injured in an accident on the Jammu-Srinagar highway in Ramban district. A vehicle carrying the pilgrims to the Kashmir valley met with an accident in Chanderkote area of Jammu division, a police officer said. The injured have been shifted to hospital.

A batch of 3,708 pilgrims proceeded to Kashmir on Wednesday morning from Jammu but they were stranded at Udhampur because of landslides and heavy rain.

As many as 54,833 pilgrims have performed darshan of the ice-lingam so far at the holy cave shrine situated at a height of about 12,786 ft. Bad weather has forced authorities to suspend the pilgrimage many times, as a result of which several pilgrims are stranded at Pahalgam and Baltal.

Earlier, a flash flood hit the Baltal car parking on Tuesday.

The police, however, said the camp area was absolutely safe. The irrigation and flood control department has been put on alert. Small vehicles are being shifted to the truck yard at Sonmarg.

The police said the road to Kargil had got blocked at Aabmath (Zojila) due to a slide. The Border Roads Organisation is on the job to clear the road.

Shikara capsizes, 2 feared drowned

Two persons were feared drowned when the shikara (boat) they were rowing capsized in Srinagar’s Nigeen lake, police said on Wednesday.

Two others on the shikara have been rescued.

Divers have been engaged to search the missing persons.