With heavy downpour and landslides affecting routes of both Amarnath and Kailash Mansarovar yatras in the Himalayan region since couple of days, more than 2500 pilgrims are said to have been stranded. Home Minister Rajnath Singh will be on a two-day Jammu And Kashmir tour to take a stock of the evacuation process led by both the teams of NDRFs and Indian Army.
Though the Union Home Ministry and Union Ministry of External Affairs are trying their best to evacuate pilgrims, heavy rains have become an issue. It has been confirmed by the ministries that more than 200 pilgrims have been evacuated from Kailash Mansarovar, but due to the bad weather evacuation process might be delayed, conveying that the remaining 1,500 would also be evacuated soon.
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On Tuesday, MEA confirmed that 104 pilgrims were evacuated, and the additive report says that 94 more have been airlifted. According to the information seven commercial flights are operating for rescue work and the MEA has requested the Government of Nepal for army helicopters to evacuate stranded Indian nationals. Hotline numbers in various languages have been released for the pilgrims and their family members. Even Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given assurance of evacuation of all pilgrims.
However, the situation for Amarnath pilgrims is not good. Five people were killed and three others suffered injures in a landslide on the Bartal route in Ganderbal district of Jammu And Kashmir on Tuesday. Police said that among the five killed four were men and a woman, adding that the landslide hit between Railpatri and Brarimarg on the Baltal route.
Tweeting about the tragic death and expressing his condolence, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh tweeted, “Anguished beyond words on the loss of precious lives due to a landslide on the Baltal route of Shri Amarnathji Yatra. My thoughts are with the bereaved families and my prayers for the speedy recovery of the injured.”
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Earlier, the Indian embassy had said in a statement that there are about 525 Indian pilgrims stranded in Simikot in Humla district, 550 in Hilsa and other 500 on the Tibet side, for Kailash Mansarovar Yatra. But the number of Amarnath pilgrims have not been declared yet.
As all the Union and State missionaries, along with mission are trying to evacuate pilgrims from being stranded, families are continuously ringing the hotline numbers, expecting their near ones are rescued first.