Uttarakhand floods: 8,000 pilgrims still stranded in hills

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New Delhi: Rescuers on Tuesday evacuated 2,403 pilgrims stranded in the mountainous regions of flood-hit Uttarakhand even as 20 persons, including IAF and paramilitary personnel, were feared killed in a chopper crash near Gaurikund.
 
Nearly 8,000 persons are still stranded — most of them at Harsil and Badrinath — as rescue operations continued full swing with Border Roads Organisation completing construction of a bridge at Pandukeshwar which would facilitate evacuation of those stuck at Badrinath.
 
Cabinet secretary Ajit Seth reviewed the rescue operations at a meeting of the National Crisis Management Committee which was attended by secretaries of 10 ministries concerned as well as senior officers of the Army, Air Force, ITBP, NDRF and BRO who have been involved in rescue efforts.
 
Braving inclement weather, the Indian Air Force conducted 53 sorties to air evacuate 535 persons stranded at various places in the flood-hit areas.
 
The Army was able to evacuate through the land route 895 persons from Badrinath and 338 from Harsil areas while the Indo-Tibetan Border Police evacuated 600 persons on the land route from the Badrinath.