15 stranded Sikkim pilgrims evacuated to Srinagar

A total 15 pilgrims from Sikkim, who were stranded in the worst affected Kedarnath area in flood-ravaged Uttarakhand, have been evacuated to Srinagar today.
The pilgrims, all hailing from the East Sikkim area of Lingdok ward II, are in touch with their family members, the panchayat head Bishnu Bhakta Gautam told PTI.
Family sources said the pilgrims, six of them women, had set out for Char Dham yatra, which started on June 9 and were stranded in an area below Kedarnath town following the flash floods.
Another group of seven pilgrims from Rhenock and Dalapchand in Sikkim are also stranded in Uttarakhand.

Bed Prakash Adhikari, one of the stranded pilgrims from Sikkim, informed over phone that the group have been stranded about 30 km short of Kedarnath for the past three days with the road washed out on both sides.
The group, which is stranded with about 500 other pilgrims, was facing food and drinking water shortage and anxiously waiting for relief materials distributed by the rescue teams.
The Sikkim chief secretary R Ongmu has written to the chief secretary of Uttarakhand Subash Kumar, appealing for help for the safe return of the pilgrims, official sources said.
Thousands are feared dead in rain-ravaged Uttarakhand, even as rescue and relief operations have been intensified to evacuate stranded people in Kedarnath which has suffered massive damage in flash floods and cloudbursts.