Malappuram: A total of 29 Keralites who were stranded in Jammu and Kashmir following the terror attack in Pahalgam returned to their native places on Thursday. On Wednesday, the team of tourists from Malappuram and Thrissur reached Kerala House in Delhi from Srinagar. A few of them boarded a train scheduled at 8 pm on Wednesday, while others opted for an early morning train on Thursday. Among the people, 23 from Malappuram were employees of Tirur Urban Cooperative Bank and their relatives. Five-year-old Aira Rasheed was the youngest member of the team. 

The team from the bank started their tour on April 16. A six-member team from Thrissur are the others who were returned home from the Kerala House. 

According to a PTI report, the Malappuram natives escaped from the terror attack as they opted out of going for a horse ride and instead travelled to another nearby location for sightseeing. 

"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 sightseeing location. But he asked whether we wanted to be alive or go for sightseeing," one of the women in the group recollected.

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.

The Keralites alleged that there was no security at any of the tourist locations in Pahalgam.

"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.

A total of 26 people, including a Nepali, were killed in the terrorist attack in Pahalgam on April 22. 

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