UTTARAKHAND/INDIA: 5,000 FEARED KILLED, 19,000 STILL STRANDED DEHRADUN: Kedarnath valley, the temple town which was the epicentre of the Uttarakhand rain fury, was on Sunday cleared of all stranded pilgrims, as rescuers battled rains to evacuate 3,000 more people in the disaster in which the death toll is likely to cross 5,000. With MeT department warning of adverse weather in the region from Monday, the multi-agency operations raced against time to try to rescue remaining 19,000 stranded people stuck in three areas including Badrinath. Air operations had to be also briefly suspended due to bad weather. As stepped up rescue operations amid intermittent rains led to evacuation of more than 3,000 pilgrims and tourists out of the stranded 22,000 people, the state government said at least 5,000 people must have perished in Uttarakhand in the worst ever deluge to have struck the hill state. "At least 5,000 people must have been killed in the deluge that inflicted heavy damage on vast tracts of land especially in Kedarnath valley," disaster management minister Yashpal Arya told reporters at the Jollygrant airport on his return from an aerial survey of the affected areas. The official death toll as of Friday was put at 680 while chief minister Vijay Bahuguna said the death toll is likely to be around 1,000.
Posted on: Sun, 23 Jun 2013 16:46:46 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015