2,800 AP pilgrims stranded, 1 dead

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Hyderabad: A 20-year-old pilgrim, Veerabhadraiah, from Anantapur district died at Gourikund in Uttarakhand on Wednesday. He is among the 2,800 pilgrims from the state who are reported to be stranded in Uttarakhand following the cloudburst and flooding last week.
Ten other pilgrims from the state, two of whom had taken ill, were airlifted to Dehradun in Army helicopters. The ailing pilgrims — M.S.P.A. Reddy from Vizag and Loya Padmaja from Gudivada — were admitted to a private hospital and their condition is said to be stable now.
AP steps up efforts to rescue pilgrims
Veerabhadraiah, who died at Gourikund in Uttarkhand on Wednesday, his father J. Eeswaraiah and 11 others went on the Chardham yatra on June 9. On their return journey, their vehicle was stuck in a massive traffic jam near Gourikund in Uttarakhand. Veerabhadraiah died in their vehicle after a brief illness on Wednesday.
Veerabhadraiah was assisting his father Eeswaraiah, who was working as a priest at Kasi Visweswaraswamy Temple in B.K. Samaudram in the district. The state government, meanwhile, has stepped up rescue and relief operations and deputed two special teams from AP Bhavan, New Delhi, headed by APPCB secretary Sanjay Kumar to monitor the rescue operations.
However, the teams could not reach the victims.  “Nearly 40 helicopters have been deployed by the Army to airlift the stranded pilgrims. We are finding it hard to reach the victims as all the roads got washed away due to floods.
We are still 15 km from Rudra Prayag, where several pilgrims are reported to be stranded,” said M.V.S. Rama Rao, a member of AP special team from AP Bhavan.v Officials have sent two buses from Delhi to Dehradun and Hardwar to bring back the victims.
Another 100 vehicles have been pressed into service to bring victims to Hanuman Jetty. Nearly 2,380 pilgrims from AP are believed to be stranded in Uttarakhand according to the reports sent by the collectors of 15 districts to the Central Control Room set up at Secretariat. The helpline in AP Bhavan alone received 260 calls on Wednesday.