Jamshedpur families escape fury of Amarnath cloudburst, return safely

Mail News Service

Jamshedpur, July 10: The cloudburst near the Amarnath shrine in south Kashmir at about 5:30 pm on Friday, July 8 accounted for several lives and uncountable damages including 25 tents and three community kitchens. Police, SDRF, NDRF, BSF and ITBP teams almost immediately launched rescue operations that prevented the loss of several more lives to the whirling waters caused by the sudden cloudburst.

Among the ones saved were Jamshedpur’s four families with 16 members who had miraculous escapes from the devastation. They took a flight from Srinagar and landed at Birsa Munda International Airport in Ranchi before taking the road route back to Jamshedpur. The 16 members included children.

 The families included those of Vijay Agarwal (Golmuri), Mukesh Mittal (Jugsalai), Ashutosh Agarwal and Niraj Sanghi both of Chandrabali Uddyan in Kasidih. Too tired and some among the families yet to recover from the cloudburst horror had an additional regret of not being able to offer prayers at Amarnath shrine. One among the family members just managed to utter, “We were on the threshold of entering…we were at the cave’s gate when the calamity (cloudburst) occurred. We missed out on offering our prayers and that rankles but, perhaps, Baba felt that there will always be another time for us. It was His grace that saved us and our families including our children.”

According to bits and pieces of vital information received from the members of the four families, the cloudburst that occurred at about 5:30 pm on Friday, July 8, resulted in the fury of swirling waters gushing down the Himalayan range in South Kashmir taking in its wake whatever that came in the way including eager devotees for Darshan of the auspicious Shivling of ice that forms at this time of the year.

Crowds of devotees, horrified at the sudden turn of horrific events, ran helter-skelter to save their lives and among them were the 16 members of four families from Jamshedpur. The horror of this sudden calamity and the nagging fear of loss of their families haunted them for about six hours after which, they were miraculously reunited. A few children had somehow managed to enter the cave and save themselves. But their little minds too were weighed down by the fear of loss of their loved ones. In fact, amidst the chaos all around, the four families heaved, perhaps the heaviest, sigh of relief and thanked Baba Amarnath for the reunion amidst the devastation.

“We did not meet Baba at Amarnath, but certainly felt His loving grace that saw to our miraculous escape and reunion,” said one from the 16 members of the four relieved families who touched home base.