The Uttarakhand government on Friday deployed Chinook and Mi-17 helicopters of the Indian Air Force to rescue nearly 1,450 tourists stranded at four locations along the Kedarnath route for the past two days. Two days ago, a 70-metre stretch of road near the Bhimbali police post was damaged by a landslide, causing a complete blockade of the road connectivity to Kedarnath Shrine.

The State Emergency Operation Centre (SEOC) and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) informed that nearly 3,500 stranded pilgrims have been rescued since Wednesday night, following heavy rains that triggered landslides and a cloudburst at Lincholi, cutting off the Kedar Valley from other parts of the region. It’s significant that around 5,000 Kedarnath pilgrims and local residents were stranded at various locations along the route to the shrine due to the rain disaster two days ago.

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As many as 714 pilgrims were airlifted from the Kedarnath Shrine area, Lincholi, Bhimbali, and Chidbasa to safer locations at Sonprayag and other areas. According to an SEOC statement, around 800 devotees were stranded at Kedarnath, 300 in Bhimbali, 200 in Chidbasa, and 150 at Lincholi. Officials from the state disaster management department informed that two Indian Air Force helicopters, one Chinook and one Mi-17, were deployed to rescue the stranded pilgrims, with nearly 714 airlifted to safety by the afternoon. The rescue operation was hampered by intermittent bad weather in the Kedarnath valley, but all efforts were made to transport the stranded pilgrims to safer locations.

Teams from the National Disaster Relief Fund (NDRF), SDRF, and District Disaster Relief Fund (DDRF) were stationed at all locations where pilgrims were stranded. The district administration provided adequate food and lodging facilities for the pilgrims at these locations.

Meanwhile, SDRF deployed drones to locate and identify alternate routes to rescue and shift pilgrims to safer locations. The state’s principal disaster rescue and rehabilitation body reported that so far 3,500 pilgrims have been rescued via alternate rope routes created by SDRF teams.