5 Kedarnath pilgrims in car buried under debris of landslide in Phata

Dehradun: Five pilgrims were killed after their car was buried under the debris of a landslide at Tarsali in Phata area on the way to Kedarnath, officials said. The landslide occurred near Phata on Guptkashi-Gaurikund highway on Thursday night, washing out a 60-metre stretch of the road. The State Disaster Response Force launched a rescue operation immediately after getting information that a car is suspected to have been buried under the debris but incessant rain hindered the work, police said.

Five bodies were pulled out of the mangled remains of the car on Friday when the weather cleared, they said.

The car carrying pilgrims was on its way to Kedarnath when it was hit by a mass of stones and boulders falling from the mountain between Phata and Sonprayag. The breached road is still being repaired and the traffic remains suspended.

The mangled remains of the car, a Swift Dzire and the bodies were pulled out of the debris of the landslide on resumption of the rescue operation on Friday, Rudraprayag District Disaster Management officer Nandan Singh Rajwar said. The deceased have been identified as Jigar R Modi, Mahesh Desai, Parik Divyansh, all from Gujrat, Haridwar resident Mintu Kumar and Manish Kumar, he said.