Nepal Army chopper deployed to evacuate Mansarovar pilgrims

STRANDED Five commercial flights also help bring to safety 96 Indians from Simikot to Surkhet as the weather remained bad

Nearly 100 Indian pilgrims were on Wednesday evacuated as authorities stepped up efforts to rescue those stranded in Nepal’s mountainous region due to heavy rain while returning from Kailash Mansarovar pilgrimage in Tibet.

Five commercial flights and one Nepal Army chopper operated on Wednesday, transporting 96 Indian stranded pilgrims from Simikot to Surkhet as the weather condition in Nepalgunj remained bad. On the Hilsa-Simikot route, three Nepal Army choppers operated, the Indian Embassy said.

Around 250 of the over 1,500 Indian pilgrims stranded were evacuated safely from Hilsa till Tuesday, the embassy had said. While Hilsa is low on infrastructure, Simikot has decent boarding, communication and medical facilities, it had said.

A total of 158 people were evacuated on Tuesday from Simikot to Nepalganj, which is a fairly big city with modern facilities and is three hours by road from Lucknow, the mission had said.

The embassy has already set up a hotline for pilgrims and their family members, which also comprises other language speaking staff for Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam speakers.

Two pilgrims — Leela Narayanan Mandredath, 56, of Kerala, and Satya Laxmi of Andhra Pradesh — died on Monday due to high altitude sickness in Simikot and a heart attack in Tibet respectively, the Indian Embassy had said.

Their bodies were brought by special helicopters to Kathmandu and Nepalganj respectively, it said in a statement.

Tenzin Norbu Lama, managing director of Sunny Travels and Treks, one of the major tour operators handling the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra, said Indian pilgrims were stranded as air transport links were cut off due to bad weather but there were no problems in food and accommodation.

“However, mountain areas lack proper medical facilities in the event of pilgrims suffering from altitude sickness due to their prolonged stay in the region,” Lama was quoted as saying by local media.

The pilgrimage to Kailash Mansarovar in the Tibetan region of China is considered holy by Hindus, Buddhists and Jains. Every year, hundreds of Indians undertake the ‘yatra’, which involves trekking under inhospitable conditions.

KATHMANDU:

THE PILGRIMAGE TO KAILASH MANSAROVAR IN THE TIBETAN REGION OF CHINA IS CONSIDERED HOLY BY HINDUS, BUDDHISTS AND JAINS