Thiruvananthapuram/New Delhi, Apr 24 (PTI) A 23-member tourist group from Kerala narrowly escaped the terror attack at Kashmir’s Pahalgam as they opted out of going for a horse ride and instead travelled to another nearby location for sight-seeing.

Members of the group, which included a child, told reporters at the Kerala House in New Delhi that had they opted for horse-riding, then they too might have been among those killed in the terror attack that claimed 26 lives.

“The rates quoted for the horse ride were too expensive for us. So we took a taxi to another location. From there, we were on the way to Baisaran when we heard some loud sounds, shops were being closed and people were running away.

“We initially did not realise what was happening and asked our guide to take us to another sight-seeing location. But he asked whether we wanted to be alive or go for sightseeing,” one of the women in the group said.

She said that they were taken back to the place from where they had taken the taxi and then taken back to their hotel rooms.

“When we reached the hotel, we saw on the news what had happened and how we narrowly escaped the same fate,” she said.

“If we had not avoided the horse-ride, we too would have been among those killed,” one of the men in the group said.

They also alleged that there was no security at any of the tourist locations.

“There were security personnel on the roads to these places, but no security people at the locations. Probably that is why they attacked that place,” they said.

Terrorists opened fire at a tourist location near Kashmir’s Pahalgam town on Tuesday afternoon, killing 26 people, mostly tourists, in what is the deadliest attack in the Valley since the Pulwama strike in 2019. PTI HMP HMP KH