Two pilgrims died of cardiac arrest at Sabarimala on Tuesday, taking the death toll due to cardiac ailments at the pilgrim centre to eight.
V. Sankar, 39, of Yellemma Street in Bangalore suffered a heart attack while trekking to the temple early Tuesday. He was taken to the Cardiology Centre at Appachimedu on the Pampa-Sannidhanam path where he breathed his last.
Another pilgrim, identified as Bijukumar of Dhanya house, Murukkumpuzha in Thiruvananthapuram district, died of cardiac arrest at the Government dispensary at the Sannidhanam.
Volunteers of the Akhila Bharatha Ayyappa Seva Sanghom stretcher unit shifted the bodies to Pampa from where they were taken to Thiruvananthapuram and Palakkad in ambulances.
Heavy rush
There was a heavy rush of pilgrims at the Sannidhanam on Tuesday. The queue of devotees extended up to Marakkoottom in the morning hours. Pilgrims had to wait for hours inside the thickly packed barricades for holy darshan.
BJP warns of stir
Addressing a press conference at the Sannidhanam on Tuesday, A. N. Radhakrishnan, BJP State secretary, said the party would launch an agitation if the Travancore Devasom Board and the State government failed to take up work on the masterplan after the ongoing pilgrimage season.
The BJP leader also sought stern action to check fleecing of pilgrims, especially by shops run by Eco-Development Committees attached to Forest Department on the Karimala route. He urged the Forest Department to open the check-post at Vallakkadavu to enable the pilgrims to reach Sabarimala via Pulmedu.
