17 Gujarat pilgrims stranded on way to Kedarnath airlifted to safety

Ahmedabad, Aug 2 (PTI) Seventeen pilgrims from Gujarat, who were stranded on their way to Kedarnath Dham in Uttarakhand due to heavy rains, were airlifted to safety with the help of the hill state's administration, the Gujarat government said on Friday.

After the news of 17 pilgrims from Aravalli district being stranded near Moti Lincholi on the way to Kedarnath Dham reached here, Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel directed the State Emergency Operation Centre (SEOC) to immediately coordinate rescue efforts.

Relief Commissioner Alok Pandey facilitated communication between the Gujarat SEOC and its Uttarakhand counterpart, providing details and contact information of the stranded devotees, said an official release.

The Uttarakhand SEOC, in coordination with the Rudraprayag District Control Room, launched an immediate rescue operation. Once the weather cleared, all the Gujarat pilgrims were airlifted to safety within a few hours on Thursday, it said.

Manoj Bhai, a representative of the Aravalli pilgrims, expressed gratitude to Chief Minister Patel and SEOC officials from both Gujarat and Uttarakhand for their swift response, the release said.

In Uttarakhand, the Indian Air Force's Chinook and MI17 helicopters on Friday joined the rescue operations to evacuate pilgrims stranded on the rain-ravaged trek route to Kedarnath.

The trek route to Kedarnath suffered extensive damage as a result of a cloudburst in Junglechatti in Rudraprayag district on Wednesday night.

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said since the start of rescue operations on Thursday morning, 5,000 people have been evacuated to safety, with some being airlifted.

The Kedarnath temple, a part of Char Dham pilgrimage circuit, is one of the 12 Jyotirlingas of Lord Shiva in the country. PTI PD RSY