Tourist Accidentally Films Terrorist Attack While on a Zipline

A tourist unknowingly captured a deadly terror attack while he was filming himself on a zipline ride with a selfie stick.

Warning: The following video contains content that some may find upsetting.

On April 22, five gunmen opened fire on a group of local tourists in the popular holiday destination of Pahalgam in Kashmir, India in a terrorist attack that left at least 26 people dead and dozens injured.

As the five gunmen stormed the area, smiling tourist Rishi Bhatt filmed himself ziplining over Pahalgam’s Baisaran meadow — completely unaware that he was recording the deadly terror attack unfolding below him.

In the viral footage shared on X, Bhatt, from Ahmedabad, India, beams at the camera as he records his zipline ride using a selfie stick.

However, in the backdrop of the selfie video, people on the ground underneath him are seen desperately running away as gunshots loudly go off.

At one point toward the end of the clip, a gunshot rings out loudly and a tourist is seen falling to the ground.

In an interview with Indian news agency ANI News, Bhatt says he had no idea that there was a terror attack happening behind him until he got to the end of the zipline and detached himself from his safety belt. He escaped with his family when he reached the other side.

“Firing started when I was ziplining,” Bhatt tells ANI News. “After about 20 seconds, I realized that it was a terrorist attack and people on the ground are being killed. I saw five to six people getting shot.”

“I unlatched my belt and jumped down, took my wife and son, and started running away. We saw people hiding at a spot which was like a pit, so you could not spot someone easily there. We too hid there.”

The terror attack has been the deadliest against civilians in Kashmir in decades, leaving the region — claimed in full but controlled in part by both India and Pakistan — gripped by fear.

Bhatt’s video has gone viral across India, serving as a key piece of evidence as investigators reconstruct the events of the attack and examine the security lapses involved.

Image credits: All photos via X/@kathiyawadiii.