New Delhi, July 3: Nearly 1,500 Indian pilgrims have been stranded due to heavy rainfall and bad weather conditions along the Nepalganj-Simikot-Hilsa route of the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra which passes through Nepal. According to a tweet by ANI, two commercial flights landed at Simikot, 423 km from capital Kathmandu to rescue 525 pilgrims of Kailash Mansarovar Yatra stranded in the area.
In another tweet, ANI informed that a total of seven flights operated from Simikot to Nepalganj and about 104 Indian pilgrims of Kailash Mansarovar Yatra have been evacuated so far.
Out of the stranded Indians, 290 are from Karnataka. According to a tweet by ANI, a tourist to Kailash Mansarovar from Andhra Pradesh's East Godavari, Granthi Subbarao, passed away in Nepal's Hilsa. His body is being brought to Nepalgunj. The postmortem will be conducted there and then the body will be sent to his hometown in Andhra Pradesh.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Tuesday morning took to micro-blogging site Twitter and informed that there are about 525 pilgrims stranded in Simikot, 550 in Hilsa and another 500 in Tibet side.
Indian Embassy in Nepal has deployed representatives in Nepalganj and Simikot. They are touch with the pilgrims and ensuring that food and lodging facilities are available to all the pilgrims. /2 #IndiansStrandedInNepal
— Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) July 3, 2018
"We have requested Government of Nepal for army helicopters to evacuate stranded Indian nationals. /4 #IndiansStrandedInNepal," Swaraj tweeted this morning.
The External Affairs Minister has also shared helpline numbers om Twitter. They are as follows:
Pl RT
Pranav Ganesh First Secy +977-9851107006
Tashi Khampa +977-98511550077
Tarun Raheja +977 9851107021
Rajesh Jha +977 9818832398
Yogananda +977 9823672371 (Kannada)
Pindi Naresh +977 9808082292 (Telugu)
R Murugan +977 98085006 (Tamil)
Ranjith +977 9808500644 (Malayalam)
— Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) July 3, 2018
Reports inform that Indian embassy in Kathmandu is monitoring the situation along the route in Simikot.
In Simikot a health check up has been done on all the elderly pilgrims. They are being provided required medical help. In Hilsa we have requested police authorities for necessary assistance. /3 #IndiansStrandedInNepal
— Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) July 3, 2018
Swaraj informed in a tweet that in Simikot, a health check-up has been done on all the elderly pilgrims and they are being provided required medical help. In Hilsa, the government has requested police authorities for necessary assistance.
According to a report by TOI, the Embassy has asked all tour operators to try and hold pilgrims back on the Tibet side as medical and civic facilities on the Nepal side are inadequate.
This year the Yatra is scheduled during the period June 8 to September 8, 2018 through two routes. Applicants for this Yatra must be at least 18 years and not more than 70 years. The Yatra takes place via two routes - The route through Lipulekh Pass (Uttarakhand) and the other route through Nathu La Pass (Sikkim).
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 03, 2018 02:13 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).