SRINAGAR: National Conference President Farooq Abdullah said on Saturday that the government should order an investigation to ascertain how tents and community kitchens were set up in a highly-vulnerable location near the Amarnath cave shrine in the south Kashmir Himalayas, which was hit by flash floods on Friday.

After meeting Yashwant Sinha, the joint opposition candidate for the July 18 presidential elections in Srinagar, Abdullah said, "We are confident that the government will appoint an inquiry commission to determine how it happened and why it happened."

The former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir questioned the wisdom of placing tents and a "langar" (community kitchen) in such a vulnerable area.

"I don't think these things were done there previously, given the position of the tents and langars. This is really a great thing to do in Panjtarni. It needs to be looked into since there might have been a human error, Abdullah said.

He said, the victims' families should receive compensation, and measures should be done to ensure that similar situations never happen again.

The number of people killed in the flash floods caused by heavy rain close to the Amarnath cave shrine increased to 16 on Saturday as the search efforts went on nonstop despite concerns that many more people may still be buried under the debris.

If you are stuck in Amarnath Yatra, then ask for help on this number

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