A tourist from Odisha’s Balasore district was killed in the militant attack in south Kashmir’s Pahalgam on Tuesday, in which at least 20 tourists were killed. The man was identified as Prashant Satpathy (43), from Remuna in Balasore, who had gone to the Valley on a holiday with his wife, Priyadarshini, and nine-year-old son on April 19. Satpathy worked as an accountant with the Central Institute of Petrochemicals Engineering and Technology (CIPET), Bhubaneswar. Priyadarshini told The Indian Express that her husband got bullet injuries on his head as they were alighting from a ropeway. “We couldn’t understand what happened as my husband was suddenly hit by a bullet. There was chaos all over,” she said. Condemning the incident, Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi directed the state’s Resident Commissioner in New Delhi to ensure that the body of the deceased tourist from the state reaches home without hassle. Officials said the Resident Commissioner’s office is in touch with the Jammu and Kashmir administration and other agencies to extend help to the family members of the deceased tourist and other tourists from the state. In the deadliest terror attack on tourists in Jammu and Kashmir in over three decades, more than 20 people were shot dead and several others injured on Tuesday at a meadow near Pahalgam. Sources indicated that the death toll could climb. The attack took place in the afternoon at Baisaran valley – it is an off-road meadow a little over 6 km from Pahalgam – which was packed with tourists. Three-four gunmen showed up and fired indiscriminately at the tourists. Union Home Minister Amit Shah has rushed to Srinagar from New Delhi to take stock of the situation and review the security arrangements.
