Blast rocks Baltal camp as it looked yet another normal night

Baltal, Amarnath Base Camp, July 18 (UNI) ''Everything was normal, pilgrims were busy singing religious songs and my husband and I were closing our shop when a loud explosion rocked the entire camp area,'' said Mani Kala, who was among the 19 people, who suffered splinter wounds in the blast.

One of the injured later died in the hospital.

Her husband Uttam Kala also received splinter wounds, she said.

An official spokesman said 1,692 pilgrims, including 308 women, 64 children and 8 sadhus left from Baltal to the holy cave shrine this morning.

Mani, a resident of Darjeeling, who sold woollens to pilgrims, said, after normal business during the day, she and her husband were closing the shop just outside the camp, when there was a blast several metres away.

''Without realising that we too had received injuries, we started running,'' she said, adding it was only after covering some distance, they started to feel pain in the body.

''We started crying for help after we saw blood coming from the wounds we had suffered due to the blast, said Mani, who was still in pain.

Her husband also fell on the ground due to the injuries he suffered, she added.

Later, the security personnel, police and locals took them to a medical camp where they were given first aid.

She said majority of the injured injured were shopkeepers and locals.

Abdul Rashid, a local labourer, said he had returned from the holy cave shrine only in the afternoon with the yatris and was resting in a tent when the blast took place.

''I ran out and saw a number of people, including women, on the ground crying for help,'' he said, adding it took him just few minutes to reach the spot and rescue the injured.

Ghulam Rasool, another eyewitness, said he saw Abdul Rahim Lone walking towards the area where the blast took place. ''I also ran away in panic,'' he said and added Lone was no more now as he has succumbed to his injuries in the hospital at Srinagar.

He said a number of injured persons, including a yatri from UP and a bus conductor from Delhi, were shifted to Srinagar hospital after they were given first aid here.

A security jawan, standing guard outside the camp said, everything was normal, pilgrims were busy singings religious songs raising the slogans 'Jai Shiv Shanker' and 'Bham Bham Bholay' when the blast took place. Many yatris were having their dinner while others were preparing for tomorrow's journey to the holy cave. Our senior officers and we immediately rushed out and helped to rescue the.

People were running helter skelter as there was panic after the blast, he said, adding the situation was immediately brought under control.

There was, however, some normalcy in the guarded camp area even after the blast, he said.

A yatri Ganshyam from Uttar Pradesh, who was ready to board a vehicle for Srinagar this morning, after having the 'darshan' at the Amarnath cave yesterday morning, said he was resting in one of the camp when their was loud sound of explosion. ''It took me some time to realise that it was a bomb blast after I heard people crying for help.'' Such things will not deter those who have faith in Lord Shiva and believes in destiny, he said adding one has to die at a time and place fixed for it.

Things looked normal this morning and the yatris, security forces, police personnel and local Muslims, including tent owners, were busy discussing the pilgrimage.

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