Defying curfew restrictions on Wednesday, local risked their lives to rescue the Amarnath Yatra pilgrims injured in a road accident on Srinagar-Jammu Highway and carried them to hospitals. At least 31 Hindhu Yatris after a bus (JK02/3159) carrying pilgrims on way to Jammu met with an accident during wee hours(5am) near Bijbehara Islamabad.
The driver of the mini-bus carrying the pilgrims died of injuries after the vehicle met an accident near Bijbehara town in Anantnag district, the condition of some of the Yatris is critical. With the death of the driver, the toll in the highway accident rose to two.
Earlier, a pilgrim died and 22 others were injured in the accident.
Locals in Bijbehara town, who were mourning two deaths due to recent violence in the Kashmir Valley, ignored their personal grief and the curfew to rush to the accident spot and rescue the injured pilgrims.
“Local Muslims carried the injured pilgrims to a hospital in their private vehicles. Some also carried them to a hospital in Srinagar,” an eye-witnesse told IANS.
Despite being in the throes of violence triggered by the killing of a top militant, Burhan Wani, which left 36 people dead in the last four days, the gesture of the Bijbehara locals was exemplary.