Borivli resident, who had a miraculous escape as he was inside the cave shrine, narrates his and fellow devotees’ ordeal following a cloudburst
Tejas Desai (extreme left) with his group from MCA Club, Kandivli, at the base camp before they went to Amarnath cave
A 50-year-old Borivli resident who survived the Amarnath cloudburst tragedy returned safely to the city on Sunday. In an exclusive interview with mid-day, Tejas Desai recalled the experience.
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Speaking about how he managed to survive, Desai said, “We were lucky enough to get inside the Amarnath cave before the cloudburst took place, or else I don’t know what would have happened to me and my friends.” Desai was part of the 15-member group from the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) Club in Kandivli that went for Amarnath yatra on July 7.
We started the yatra on July 8. We reached the base camp, went through security and started going up. While it generally takes 5-6 hours to reach the cave from the basecamp, it took us double the time as there were over 15,000 pilgrims. We finally reached the cave around 6 pm,” said Desai.
“After we entered, the gate was closed as it was time for Aarti. We were inside when we suddenly heard a thunderous sound. We didn’t have any idea what was going on at that time. It was only when the gates opened and we went outside that we saw the destruction. Water from the flash flood was washing away everything including large stones, tents, pilgrims.” He added, “I thank God that we got to enter the cave right before it.”
Desai further recalled, “There were around 500 people in the cave where we had to wait for over an hour. Army personnel were making continuous announcements, telling us to take the Panjtarni route. The weather was terrible, there was no light, we were all soaked and starving. We managed to cover 1 km where we hired a tent and slept as it was too risky to try and walk down in the night. I was on the verge of tears, it was so scary.”
“When we left for the hotel in the morning, we saw bodies of pilgrims being evacuated by the Army. The cloakroom where we had kept out belongings was in a shambles and many lost their stuff. Luckily, I managed to find my belongings,” concluded Desai, who arrived at the city airport on Sunday evening. As per reports, the cloudburst has led to the death of 16 people while more than 40 people are still missing. The search and rescue operation is still going on.
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