More than 10,000 stranded devotees rescued from Kedarnath route

Uttarakhand State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) rescued more than 10,000 devotees en route to the Kedarnath Shrine on Tuesday night after they were stuck due to a road blockade caused by a sudden landslide near Sonprayag. SDRF stated that all the devotees were taken to a safe location during the night.

SDRF officials stated that nearly 10,400 devotees were stranded on the Sonprayag and Gaurikund highway at the Munkatiya area on the Kedarnath Shrine route because the road was blocked by a sudden landslide on Tuesday night. The landslide occurred due to inclement weather and light rain, forcing the devotees to remain stranded midway. Situation turned extremely challenging during the night due to adverse weather conditions, continuously falling debris from the hilltop, and the massive crowd of passengers.

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A statement issued by SDRF said they received information about the landslide on the Kedarnath track from the District Control Room (DCR) Rudraprayag at around 9:16 pm. Upon receiving the information teams from NDRF and SDRF immediately left for the spot with all necessary rescue equipment from the Sonprayag base camp, following the directions of Commandant Arpan Yaduvanshi. SDRF’s statement read that the SDRF and NDRF jointly launched the rescue operation. Despite inclement weather and poor visibility during the night NDRF and SDRF teams safely guided nearly 10,450 stranded devotees on the other side of the debris to cross the road blockade. SDRF said keeping the devotees’ morale high amidst continuous rain during the night was a difficult task while escorting them to safe locations.

The landslide debris blockade was cleared after the rescue work concluded and all devotees were taken to a safe location. JCB machines were deployed to clear debris from the road and vehicular movements resumed on Wednesday morning.