667 pilgrims leave for Amarnath Yatra
Srinagar, July 26: A small batch of 667 pilgrims on Thursday left Jammu for the Kashmir Valley to perform the ongoing Amarnath Yatra, officials said.
The yatris left Bhagwati Nagar Yatri Niwas in an escorted convoy of 19 vehicles, a police officer said.
This is the smallest batch of pilgrims to leave Jammu since the yatra started on June 28. To date, over 2,46,000 pilgrims have performed the yatra.
There have been demands from the organisation of service providers for the pilgrims that since over 90 per cent of pilgrims perform the yatra during the first 30 days as reflected by records during the last three years, the yatra should be restricted to 30 days.
Officially, the yatra will end on August 26 coinciding with Shravan Purnima festival.
Except for the vagaries of weather in which four pilgrims were killed by a landslide, the yatra has been proceeding smoothly thanks to the extraordinary security arrangements made to secure the passage of the devotees.
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Nine of family killed as car falls into well in Nashik district
Nashik (PTI): Nine members of a family, including six children, were killed after their car fell into a well in Maharashtra's Nashik district, police said on Saturday.
The accident occurred in the Shivaji Nagar area of Dindori town around 10 pm on Friday, an official said.
The victims were heading home after attending a function at a banquet hall in the area when their car fell into a well near the venue, he said.
Personnel from the local police and emergency services arrived at the scene and retrieved the car and its occupants with the help of two cranes and swimmers around midnight.
The victims were members of the Dargude family from Indore village in Dindori taluka, the official said.
According to the police, the deceased were identified as Sunil Dattu Dargude (32), his wife Reshma, Asha Anil Dargude (32), and six children from the family, five girls in the age group of seven to 14 years and an 11-year-old boy.
Their bodies were brought to the government hospital in Dindori, the official said, adding that a case has been registered and a probe is underway to ascertain the cause of the accident.
