Kedarnath Cloudburst: IAF, SDRF Continue Rescue Ops In Uttarakhand, 94 People Rescued Today

Only 350 passengers remain to be evacuated from Kedarnath Valley. The administration has made arrangements for food and accommodation for evacuated pilgrims

The Indian Air Force (IAF), along with personnel of the State Disaster Response Force, is actively evacuating stranded tourists from Kedarnath Dham safely, with Mi-17 and AALH helicopters from Guptkashi, and a Chinook from Gaucher helipad. Conducting multiple sorties, these aircraft are proving to be crucial in evacuating stranded individuals from the affected areas within the Kedarnath Valley.

As per the IAF, since early this morning, these aircraft successfully dropped 800 kg of relief material in the impacted zones.  In addition to the material drops, they inducted a total of eight National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) personnel in the disaster-hit area while 94 individuals, including children and patients, have been rescued. 

According to Uttarakhand Disaster Management and Rehabilitation Secretary Vinod Kumar Suman,  only 350 passengers are left to be evacuated from Kedarnath and 50 in Lyncholi. He said that only priests, shopkeepers and those providing 'palki' and pony services who are Kedarnath and Gaurikund residents are still left, and added that if they want to come, they will also be evacuated, as per a PTI report.

Meanwhile, the administration has made arrangements for food, water and accommodation for people at Sonprayag, Sirsi, Chaumasi, Chardham helipad, and Kedarnath helipad. On Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami's instructions, the number of people engaged in search and relief operations has also increased from 882 to 1,160.

As per the official, so far, more than 10,000 people have been shifted to safe places, despite dense clouds in Kedarnath and surrounding areas hampering the rescue operations.

On Sunday, due to bad weather, the Chinook helicopter provided by the Indian Air Force on the instructions of the central government could not be used even once, while the MI17 helicopter could only be used to rescue 60 people in three flights, he told news agency PTI. 

The trek route to Kedarnath suffered extensive damage as a result of a cloudburst in Junglechatti near Lincholi on Wednesday night. Roads were washed away at many places, including Lyncholi, Bhimbali, Ghorapadav and Rambada, on the Kedarnath trek route. At some other locations, roads were damaged due to landslides and large stones falling from the hill, due to which pilgrims were stranded at many places.