3 killed, 400 stranded in Uttarakhand snowstorm
RUDRAPRAYAG: Three persons including a tourist each from Delhi and Mumbai died in Uttarakhand on Tuesday as hundreds of pilgrims, including former chief minister Harish Rawat and Rajya Sabha member Pradeep Tamta, were left stranded in Kedarnath due to sudden snowfall in the upper reaches of the state.
Uttarakhand government officials said Sudama Singh, (52) a pilgrim from Mumbai, and Janki Devi (61) a pilgrim from New Delhi died of heart attacks, in Uttarakhand’s Yamunotri and Kedarnath shrines respectively on Tuesday.
A Nepalese porter identified as Akash died in an avalanche near the Kedartal trek in Uttarkashi. The district administration said that 35 other members of team that Akash was a part of, were safe. “We have sent three teams to rescue the stranded trekkers,” said Ashish Srivastava, district magistrate, Uttarkashi.
Rudraprayag’s district magistrate Mangesh Ghildiyal said around 4,200 pilgrims on different places of the Kedarnath route moved towards Gaurikund, the starting point to the shrine. About 400 pilgrims, mostly elderly ones, decided to stay in the town due to inclement weather.
“The pilgrims at Kedarnath are being helped by SDRF (State Disaster Response Fund) jawans, local police and the administration to come down to Gaurikund, the base station for Kedarnath,” Ghildiyal said.