New Delhi: In a tragic turn of events, two middle-aged Indian pilgrims have died during the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra due to extreme weather conditions.
The pilgrims were battling inclement weather with scores stranded at various points in the route. The deceased have been identified as 56-year-old Leela Narayanan Mandredath and 57-year-old Satya Lakshmi Narayan Subba Rao. Narayan was a native of Kerala and Rao was from Andhra Pradesh.
Highly placed sources stated Narayanan passed away on Monday morning in Simikot and her body is being brought back to Kathmandu. Rao’s body reached Nepal earlier on Tuesday. He, too, had passed away on Monday.
The Embassy of India in Kathmandu is monitoring the situation along the Nepalganj-Simikot-Hilsa route of Kailash Mansarovar Yatra (through Nepal). It has also pressed in services to ensure proper food, medicine, water supplies to the pilgrims.
As per government estimates, about 525 pilgrims were stranded in Simikot, 550 in Hilsa and another 500 in Tibet. The weather conditions still remains rough with very little chance of flights operations for rescue attempts.
The Indian mission had placed its representatives in Nepalganj and Simikot to be in touch with all pilgrims on the route.
Over 100 Indian pilgrims were evacuated from Simikot in Nepal on Tuesday as rescue work intensified to bring back more than 1,500 people stranded in Nepal's mountainous region due to heavy rain.
"So far 104 pilgrims have been rescued from the site. Seven commercial flights have so far been operated for the rescue works," an Indian Embassy official told PTI.
In Simikot, a health check-up has been carried out on all the elderly pilgrims and they are being provided required medical help.
Authorities were in touch with police officials and all other relevant personnel to ensure safe and proper evacuation of the stranded pilgrims. Additionally, al tour operators have been asked to try and hold the pilgrims back in Tibet side since the medical and civic facilities on the Nepal side are inadequate. They have further been told to prioritize clearing Hilsa area due the minimal infrastructure available in the area.
The authorities are also looking at alternative evacuating routes like Simikot-Surkhet/Simikot-Jumla/Simikot-Mugu. India has also requested the Nepal government for army helicopters to evacuate the stranded Indian nationals.
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