The holy hillock of Sabarimala witnessed heavy influx of pilgrims, majority of them coming from the neighbouring States of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, on Tuesday.
Pilgrims had to wait for nine to 10 hours on the traditional path and at the Valiya Nadappanthal for the holy darshan. The police too had a tough time in controlling the crowd in the past 24 hours.
The pilgrims’ flow to the Sannidhanam was regulated by blocking them at periodic intervals at Pampa on the foothills of Sabarimala from the afternoon with a view to ease the human pressure at the holy hillock.
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The police had resorted to block the vehicular flow too at Nilackal on the main trunk road leading to Sabarimala for a few hours in the previous night.
Pilgrim died of heart attack
A 50-year old pilgrim, identified as Rajendran of Orathanad in Thanjavur district in Tamil Nadu, died of heart attack at Neelimala on Tuesday.
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The pilgrim had reportedly collapsed while climbing the Neelimala hill around 11 am. The Ayyappa Seva Sanghom volunteers rushed him to the Cardiology Centre at Neelimala-Top where he was declared dead, later.
The body was taken to Thanjavur, later.