Machail (Kishtwar), Aug 16: Hundreds of pilgrims on Saturday converged at the Machail Mata temple and offered special prayers for the safety of the missing persons and for those who lost their lives in a cloudburst at Chisoti village in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kishtwar district on Thursday.
Flash floods triggered by the cloudburst struck Chisoti — the last motorable village en route the Machail Mata temple — at around 12.30 pm on August 14, leaving 60 persons dead and more than 100 injured.
Locals and pilgrims assembled at the temple in large numbers on Saturday and paid homage to those killed in the tragic cloudburst.
Devotees also prayed for the safety of the missing persons and speedy recovery of those injured.
“We held special prayers to pay homage to the departed souls in the cloudburst catastrophe,” Surinder Kumar, a temple body member, said.
“This was the first time that such special prayers were held at the temple, which is some kilometres away from Chisoti,” he added.
Some pilgrims, who came from the spot of the cloudburst, said they are worried about some of their kin who are still missing.
“We want Mata to facilitate the recovery of the missing persons,” one pilgrim said.
So far, 82 people — 81 pilgrims and one from the CISF — are reported missing after flash floods hit the village in the Padder sub-division.
Jammu, Udhampur and Samba districts account for the highest number of missing persons — 60.
The annual Machail Mata Yatra, which began on July 25 and was scheduled to conclude on September 5, remained suspended for the third consecutive day on Saturday.
The 8.5-km trek to the 9,500-foot-high shrine starts from Chisoti, located about 90 km from the Kishtwar town.
