Another Amarnath attack victim dies

SURAT: A 56-year-old woman, who was among the injured when terrorists opened fire at a bus of pilgrims on Amarnath Yatra in Anantnag district of J&K on July 10, succumbed to her injuries during treatment at a hospital in Srinagar on Sunday.

Laliben Bhanu Patel, resident of Chhapra Road in Valsad city, who was a cooking assistant on the bus tour from south

Gujarat

, died of bullet injuries, taking the toll to eight in the terror attack on pilgrims. Her body is expected to be brought to Surat airport in an aircraft at around 8:30pm and then taken to Valsad.

A bullet fired by the terrorists had pierced through Laliben Bhanu Patel’s stomach. Laliben was operated upon soon after she was admitted to the hospital in Srinagar on the night of July 10 and her condition was improving, said members of her family in Valsad. She had to be operated upon again due to internal injuries and her condition began to deteriorate thereafter.

Laliben was a cooking assistant to Umesh alias Anil Kumar, a cook hired by the tour operator for the bus journey from Valsad. She used to work on bus tours and earn Rs300 per day. Umesh, who had stayed back at Srinagar to take care of Laliben, will accompany the body.

“We were not aware initially that she went to Amarnath. She used to go on such tours regularly as cooking assistant. She informed us that the bus tour is for south India. But two days after she had left home we came to know from her that the bus is of pilgrims on Amarnath Yatra,” said Divyesh, her grandson.

Lakshmiben Patel, a Valsad woman sitting next to Laliben, had died on the spot from bullet injuries. Besides these two, others who died were Surekha Patel from

Udvada

in Valsad; Sumitra Patel from Surat; Nirmala Thakur and Usha Sonkar, both from

Dahanu

in Maharashtra; Ratan Patel, a resident of Valsad; and Champaben Prajapati, a resident from Gandevi in Navsari. Pushpa Gowsami, who is currently under treatment at a hospital in Srinagar while 17 others were injured in the terror attack.