Amarnath attack survivor narrates ordeal
Meher said that the terrorists kept following them on bike and continued to fire bullet rounds.
Mumbai: For Dahanu-based Chhaya Meher (55), who was among the 51 Amarnath yatra pilgrims whose bus was attacked by terrorists in Anantnag on July 10 killing seven, the pain of her bullet-hit right hand is easier to bear than any remembrance of the incident where a volley of bullets came her way and worst still, she lost her best friend Usha Sonkar.
“I still cannot sleep at night. I cannot forget the incident where my friend Sonkar became a victim of those sharp bullets which only injured me, but killed her. The bullets of those terrorists made our trip a hell,” Meher told The Asian Age while at state-run J.J. Hospital where she underwent a surgery recently.
“It was a horrifying incident. We had gone to take darshan of Lord Shiva and were returning from the yatra. It was dark and all of us were senior citizens and ladies when suddenly we heard sounds like firecrackers bursting and saw raging fires. A few of my fellow passengers were injured,” she said.
“My friend who was my child's mother-in-law, was sitting near the window and suddenly, her hand and stomach were slashed by bullets and she was in a pool of blood along with many others who sustained bullet injuries and died owing to bullets piercing their body,” she added.
Meher said that the terrorists kept following them on bike and continued to fire bullet rounds. One of the terrorists tried to open the door of the bus but the boy sitting next to the driver kicked him and he fell down. Then too, the terrorist kept firing and the boy sustained injuries on his arm and nose.
According to Eknath Pawar, head of the orthopaedic department, J.J. Hospital, “Meher was rushed to Jammu and then to Surat and late to our hospital by road. We have successfully removed the bullet cap from her right forearm. She suffered a bone fracture in the forearm which too we fixed.”
Doctors at the hospital informed Meher that what was causing her lingering pain was a bullet cap still lodged in her arm. Last Thursday, a team of doctors successfully removed the bullet.