Mata Vaishno Devi tragedy: 11 deceased identified, yatra resumes after brief suspension

SRINAGAR: Eleven people who lost their lives in a stampede at the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi shrine have been identified. 

The deceased have been identified as Dr. Arun Pratap Singh (30), of Gorakhpur UP; Dharam Veer Singh (35) of Dharmpur, UP;  Vineet Kumar (38) of Salampur, UP; Shamta Singh (35) of Gaziabad, Uttar Pradesh; Vinay Kumar (24) of Delhi;  Sonu Panday (24) of Delhi; Mamta (38) of Haryana; and Desraj (26) of  Nowshera, Rajouri district of Jammu and Kashmir; Mahinder of UP; Narendra Kumar Kashyap of Kanpur UP and  Manu Sharma of UP.  One of the deceased has not been identified.

Officials said 15 people have been injured and all of them have been identified. They are being treated in different hospitals.

Officials said the yatra has been resumed after a brief suspension. “Yatra was suspended briefly. However, it has now been resumed. The pilgrimage is going on smoothly,” said an official.

At least 12 people, most of them devotees, died and over a dozen others were injured in a stampede at Jammu Mata Vaishno Devi shrine early this morning. 

The stampede was triggered by a massive rush of devotees who had thronged to the shrine on a new year.

They said a large number of devotees had gathered at the shrine to pay their obeisance to mark the new year. Official sources say a large number of devotees entered the Vaishno Devi Bhawan without permission slips. 

Director-General of Police Dilbag Singh said a minor altercation among some young boys led to the stampede at the Mata Vaishno Devi shrine in which 12 people unfortunately died.

He said the incident was very unfortunate, and police and other officials responded to the situation in no time. Preliminary information from the scene suggests there was an altercation among some young boys, and within seconds, there was a stampede situation, Singh said.

 Singh said police and officials from the civil administration were quick to respond, and the order within the crowd was immediately restored. “Unfortunately, by that time, the damage had been done. Immediately the injured were rushed to nearby hospitals,” he said.