Two women pilgrims died while a girl was injured in a landslide on the new track to the Vaishno Devi shrine in Jammu and Kashmir's Reasi district on Monday.
The victims have been named as Sapna, 27, from Dhianpur village in Punjab's Gurdaspur, and Neha, 23, from Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh.
The injured girl, Sanvi, from Kanpur, has been admitted to the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Narayana Superspeciality Hospital for treatment.
The incident occurred near Panchi, three kilometres ahead of Bhawan, at around 2:15 PM on Monday.
Reports say the landslide was caused by shooting stones in the wake of rainfall over the past few days. A portion of an overhead iron structure was also damaged in the incident.
The pilgrims were en route to the shrine when they became trapped under the fallen structure. Deputy Commissioner of Reasi, Vishesh Paul Mahajan, confirmed the incident, stating that preliminary reports indicate two women have died and a girl has been seriously injured.
A rescue operation was launched immediately, and the movement of pilgrims on the track has been suspended. Officials are currently investigating the incident.
Last month, a landslide struck the yatra route of the shrine and the pilgrimage was resumed from an alternate route. There was no casualty or injury in the landslide.
This latest incident comes after a stampede at the shrine on New Year's Day in 2022 resulted in the deaths of 12 pilgrims and injured 16 others.
