AP minister trapped in Nepal hills is safe

HYDERABAD: An Andhra Pradesh cabinet minister, a state legislator and 13 others on the Kailash Mansarovar pilgrimage were Sunday trapped in a hilly area on the Nepal-Tibet border, according to information reaching here.The group will spend the night there as a helicopter to bring them to Kathmandu is expected to land only on Monday.Housing Minister Kanna Lakshminarayana, legislator A. Srinivas and others were trapped in area since Sunday afternoon.The state government sought help from the defence ministry to rescue the group after the minister alerted state Chief Secretary S.V. Prasad. The minister informed the government Sunday night that they were safe and had taken shelter in a house, where they would spend the night.The Nepalese army has reportedly agreed to send a helicopter to the hilly area on Monday.The minister and legislator along with their family members had gone on pilgrimage on June 11 through a private tour operator.As the helicopter, which was supposed to bring them back, did not land and three members of the group took ill due to bad weather, the minister sought help from the state government.