Tourist Filming Himself on a Zipline Unknowingly Captures Chilling Footage of Massacre in India That Killed 26
A tourist filming himself while ziplining in Pahalgam's Baisaran meadow reportedly unknowingly recorded parts of the April 22 terror attack, which killed 26 people and injured dozens in Kashmir, India
In an interview, Rishi Bhatt said that wasn't aware of what was going on until midway through the zipline and that he fled with his family to safety after finishing the run
Authorities described the mass shooting as a terror attack launched by militants who oppose India's control over Kashmir
A video reportedly filmed by a tourist while ziplining in India has gone viral after they unknowingly captured the recent deadly mass shooting in Kashmir underneath them.
Rishi Bhatt from Ahmedabad filmed himself ziplining over Pahalgam's Baisaran meadow as four men stormed the area and gunned down 26 tourists on April 22, NDTV, ANI News and Hindustan Times reported.
In the footage obtained by the outlets, Bhatt is smiling while filming himself as he takes off ziplining across the meadow. However, during the course, several people on the ground underneath him are seen running away as gunshots go off.
"Firing started when I was ziplining,' Bhatt told ANI News. 'After about 20 seconds, I realized that it was a terrorist attack and people on the ground are being killed. I saw 5-6 people getting shot,' he recalled.
Once he reached the other side, Bhatt quickly escaped the area with his family. "I unlatched my belt and jumped down, took my wife and son and started running away,' he said. 'We saw people hiding at a spot which was like a pit, so you could not spot someone easily there. We too hid there.'
Related: Mass Shooting at Kashmir Resort Kills at Least 24 People, Injures Dozens More
Authorities described the mass shooting as a "terror attack" launched by militants who oppose India's control over Kashmir. The four men were confirmed by authorities to be militants fighting Indian rule, The New York Times earlier reported.
Bhatt recalled that the shooting went on for around 10 minutes before pausing, then starting again. "The firing started again and 4-5 people were shot. 15-16 tourists were shot in front of us," he told ANI News.
Bhatt believes the shot victims were targeted as 'two families were asked their religion and shot.' He said the army responded to the scene around 20 minutes later, per ANI News.
Related: 3 Dead and 3 Injured in Mass Shooting at Virginia Townhouse Complex
Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Sign up for for breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases.
Following the attack, authorities launched a nationwide manhunt for the shooters. Militants in the Indian-controlled Kashmir have been fighting against New Delhi's rule since 1989, the Associated Press and ABC7 reported.
India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi wrote on X, "I strongly condemn the terror attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir. Condolences to those who have lost their loved ones. I pray that the injured recover at the earliest. All possible assistance is being provided to those affected."
Read the original article on People
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Los Angeles Times
6 hours ago
- Los Angeles Times
45 minutes to pack up a lifetime as Pakistan's foreigner crackdown sends Afghans scrambling
TORKHAM, Afghanistan — The order was clear and indisputable, the timeline startling. You have 45 minutes to pack up and leave Pakistan forever. Sher Khan, a 42-year-old Afghan, had returned home from his job in a brick factory. He stared at the plainclothes policeman on the doorstep, his mind reeling. How could he pack up his whole life and leave the country of his birth in under an hour? In the blink of an eye, the life he had built was taken away from him. He and his wife grabbed a few kitchen items and whatever clothes they could for themselves and their nine children. They left everything else behind at their home in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir. Born in Pakistan to parents who fled the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the ensuing war, Khan is one of hundreds of thousands of Afghans who have now been expelled. The nationwide crackdown, launched in October 2023, on foreigners who Pakistan says are living in the country illegally has led to the departures of almost 1 million Afghans already. Pakistan says millions more remain. It wants them gone. 'All our belongings were left behind,' Khan said as he stood in a dusty, windswept refugee camp just across the Afghan border in Torkham, the first stop for expelled refugees. 'We tried so hard [over the years] to collect the things that we had with honor.' Pakistan set several deadlines earlier this year for Afghans to leave or face deportation. Afghan Citizen Card holders had to leave the capital Islamabad and the city of Rawalpindi by March 31, while those with proof of registration could stay until June 30. No specific deadlines were set for Afghans living elsewhere in Pakistan. Khan feared that delaying his departure beyond the deadline might have resulted in his wife and children being hauled off to a police station along with him, which would have been a blow to his family's dignity. 'We are happy that we came [to Afghanistan] with modesty and honor,' he said. As for his lost belongings, 'God may provide for them here, as he did there.' At the Torkham camp, run by Afghanistan's Taliban government, each family receives a SIM card and 10,000 Afghanis ($145) in aid. They can spend up to three days there before having to move on. The camp's director, Molvi Hashim Maiwandwal, said some 150 families were arriving daily from Pakistan — far fewer than the roughly 1,200 families who were arriving about two months ago. But he said another surge was expected after the three-day Islamic holiday of Eid al-Adha that started June 7. Aid organizations inside the camp help with basic needs, including healthcare. Local charity Aseel provides hygiene kits and helps with food. It has also set up a food package delivery system for families once they arrive at their final destination elsewhere in Afghanistan. Aseel's Najibullah Ghiasi said they expected a surge in arrivals 'by a significant number' after Eid. 'We cannot handle all of them, because the number is so huge,' he said, adding that the organization was trying to boost fundraising so it could support more people. Pakistan accuses Afghans of staging militant attacks inside the country, saying assaults are planned from across the border — a charge Kabul's Taliban government denies. Pakistan denies targeting Afghans and maintains that everyone leaving the country is treated humanely and with dignity. But for many, there is little that is humane about being forced to pack up and leave in minutes or hours. Iran, too, has been expelling Afghans, with the UNHCR, the United Nations' refugee agency, saying on June 5 that 500,000 Afghans had been forced to leave Iran and Pakistan in the two months since April 1. Rights groups and aid agencies say authorities are pressuring Afghans into going sooner. In April, Human Rights Watch said police had raided houses, beaten and arbitrarily detained people and confiscated refugee documents, including residence permits. Officers demanded bribes to allow Afghans to remain in Pakistan, the group added. Fifty-year-old Yar Mohammad lived in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir for nearly 45 years. The father of 12 built a successful business polishing floors, hiring several workers. Plainclothes policemen knocked on his door too. They gave him six hours to leave. 'No way a person can wrap up so much business in six hours, especially if they spent 45 years in one place,' he said. Friends rushed to his aid to help pack up anything they could: the company's floor-polishing machines, some tables, bed-frames and mattresses, and clothes. Now all his household belongings are crammed into orange tents in the Torkham refugee camp, his hard-earned floor-polishing machines outside and exposed to the elements. After three days of searching, he managed to find a place to rent in Kabul. 'I have no idea what we will do,' he said, adding that he would try to re-create his floor-polishing business in Afghanistan. 'If this works here, it is the best thing to do.' Becatoros writes for the Associated Press.
Yahoo
12 hours ago
- Yahoo
Trump earns over $600 million from crypto, holds assets worth at least $1.6B
-- U.S. President Donald Trump reported more than $600 million in income from various business ventures including cryptocurrency, golf clubs, and licensing deals according to Reuters. The financial disclosure document, signed on June 13, includes details suggesting it covers the period through December 2024. This timeframe would exclude most earnings from the family's cryptocurrency ventures launched in early 2025. The report captures a period when the Trump family was beginning to enter the cryptocurrency sector while maintaining their real estate and golf club businesses. Trump's meme coin, known as $TRUMP, has reportedly generated approximately $320 million in fees, though the distribution of these earnings between Trump-controlled entities and partners remains undisclosed. Beyond the meme coin, the Trump family has earned more than $400 million from World Liberty Financial, a decentralized finance company. The disclosure specifically notes Trump received $57.35 million from token sales related to World Liberty, and he holds 15.75 billion governance tokens in the venture. The report, which appears to cover the 2024 calendar year, shows Trump holds assets worth at least $1.6 billion. His recent expansion into cryptocurrency has significantly increased his wealth alongside substantial fees from development projects and revenue from his established businesses. Related articles Trump earns over $600 million from crypto, holds assets worth at least $1.6B Silk Road's Ulbricht receives 300 BTC donation Bitcoin price today: dips to $105k as Trump tariff uncertainty spurs profit-taking Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
12 hours ago
- Yahoo
Sadiq Khan's London is crumbling. Reeves may have just sealed its fate
Rachel Reeves knew the Conservatives would condemn her spending plans in the strongest terms they could conjure up. The same goes for the Liberal Democrats and Reform. What she might not have expected was the strength of opposition from within her own party. Sir Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London and one of Labour's most high-profile figures, issued perhaps the most cutting criticisms. From crime to transport to housing, the newly knighted veteran of Left-wing politics laid into the Chancellor's schemes. 'This spending review could result in insufficient funding for the Met and fewer police officers. It's also disappointing that there is no commitment today from the Treasury to invest in the new infrastructure London needs,' Sir Sadiq said. 'Projects such as extending the Docklands Light Railway not only deliver economic growth across the country, but also tens of thousands of new affordable homes and jobs for Londoners. Unless the Government invests in infrastructure like this in our capital, we will not be able to build the numbers of new affordable homes Londoners need.' The mayor's outburst comes amid signs the capital is crumbling, with crime surging. Without additional support, Reeves risks condemning the city to a future of decline – imperilling a Labour stronghold in the process. Shoplifting jumped by more than 50pc in the capital last year according to police data, a far sharper increase than in any other region. Non-violent thefts such as pickpocketing were up by 41pc. Mayfair, the haunt of the global rich, has attracted a reputation for high-value crime. Indian bosses, for instance, used a meeting last year with David Lammy, the then shadow foreign secretary, to complain about the threat of muggers seeking expensive watches, jewellery and phones. Shopkeepers view the Metropolitan Police as the worst force for responding to crime, according to the British Retail Consortium. Its surveys found one in three Londoners witnessed shoplifting last year. Crime has got so bad that Greggs has moved its drinks and sandwiches behind the counter in five stores, including in London's Whitechapel, Peckham and Ilford, blaming anti-social behaviour. It follows reports of a growing problem with thefts from the bakery chain. 'We've got youths who think it is perfectly acceptable to run through the streets with machetes, we've got people literally walking into shops and taking exactly what they want,' says Susan Hall, a member of the London Assembly and the Conservative candidate for the mayoralty last year. 'The whole social fabric is just disappearing. It is becoming more and more lawless,' she says, noting fare-dodging on public transport is at 'epidemic levels'. The capital's decline is attracting increasing political attention. Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, filmed himself confronting fare-dodgers at London stations. Neil O'Brien, a Conservative MP, posted photos of a train carriage covered floor to ceiling in graffiti, saying: A guerrilla group of graffiti cleaners recently publicised their activities on social media, scrubbing despoiled Tube carriages in high-vis jackets bearing the slogan 'Doing what Sadiq Khant'. Rough sleeping in London has doubled since 2021, more than erasing the improvement in the lockdown era. The boroughs of Westminster, Camden and the City of London top the rankings. In the case of Westminster and the City of London, it makes for incongruous scenes of poverty alongside luxury, with homeless encampments opposite the Hilton Hotel on Park Lane. Doorways on famed thoroughfares including the Strand and the routes from Buckingham Palace to Parliament are used as shelters for the night. Once-proud Oxford Street, centre of London's shopping district and an international tourist attraction, has declined amid the rise of American candy stores and tat merchants. Officials in Westminster have drawn up plans to revive it. London's unemployment rate of 6.4pc is the highest in the nation, and the fastest-rising. Despite the capital's problems – and the fact London has long been a bedrock of Labour support – Reeves and her colleagues show no signs of trying to make the problem any better. For one thing, the Government is making it harder to take on workers. Higher staffing costs since April's National Insurance tax raid and a sharp increase in the minimum wage are squeezing already cash-strapped restaurants, bars and cafes. London institutions including The Gun in Homerton, Leroy in Shoreditch and Lyle's, which held a Michelin star for a decades, are among scores that have closed their doors in recent months. It adds to fears for London's eroding nightlife scene: around 3,000 nightclubs closed from 2020 to 2023, according to the Night Time Industries Association (NTIA). 'We know that London's hospitality is the critical factor in attracting inward investment and making the capital the best in the world to do business so we need the mayor to have the tools on licencing, planning, skills, rates and rents to make a difference,' says Kate Nicholls, chairman of trade body UKHospitality. The economy's woes have hit the housing market, too. House prices across the UK as a whole have risen by 4pc since the start of 2023, according to the Office for National Statistics. Yet the average price in London is down by more than 3pc. All of this went unrecognised in the spending review. When the Chancellor name-checked towns and cities across the Midlands and the north of England, as well as Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, her comments appeared to rile London's mayor. 'I have heard the concerns of my honourable friends the members for Mid Cheshire, and for Rossendale and Darwen, and the mayor of the Liverpool City Region, Steve Rotheram, that past governments have under-invested in towns and cities outside London and the South East. They are right,' Reeves thundered as she revamped investment rules to boost spending elsewhere in the country. While Reeves meant the comment as a signal that investment was being rebalanced at long last, Sir Sadiq took it another way. 'The way to level up other regions will never be to level down London,' he said. 'I'll continue to make the case to the Government that we must work together for the benefit of our capital and the whole country.' Reeves disputed his argument, noting rising police spending and a four-year £2.2bn fund for Transport for London, which runs public transport and the main roads. The Treasury called it 'the largest multi-year settlement for London in over a decade'. Hall says the dispute is evidence of a split at the heart of the governing party, shattering Left-wingers' hopes that a Labour Government and mayoralty would herald a tide of new funding for London. 'Sadiq Khan has been completely shut out,' she says. Sir Sadiq won a third term in last year's election with a commanding lead over Hall, taking the lead in nine of the 14 London Assembly constituencies. Yet he came away with less than half the votes cast, on a turnout of 40pc. A split in Labour and dissatisfaction with the state of the capital raise the possibility his grip on power may not be unshakeable. Reeves' snub may not be just a disappointment for London – it could be a blow to the hopes of re-election for the city's Labour mayor too. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
