More than 650 hectares of Uttarakhand land in grip of forest fires
Though no loss of life has been reported so far, officials say with the rise in mercury level the blaze is going out of control.
Seven deaths in rain-related incidents were reported in Uttarakhand amidst incessant rainfall in the entire state during the past 24 hours as authorities keeping in view the inclement weather conditions have halted the yatra to Kedarnath Dham in Rudraprayag district till further orders.
In a tragic incident, four pilgrims returning from Gangotri died when their vehicle which they were sitting was hit by boulders near Gangnani on the Gangotri highway. The deceased were travelling in a tempo traveller vehicle which was stranded near Gangnani due to the closure of the road due to landslides when their vehicles were hit by large boulders from the hills. Two other cars were also hit. Four pilgrims including a woman were killed on the spot on Monday night. The locals and a team from State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) rescued the victims on Tuesday morning. A helicopter was also pressed into service to bring two seriously injured pilgrims to Dehradun from Uttarkashi.
In another similar incident, two persons including a woman were killed when a vehicles carrying vegetables was hit by a large boulder at Tuniya near Kalsi in Dehradun district.
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A motorcyclist was killed and his pillion rider seriously injured when a bolder hit them when they were travelling on the Rudraprayag-Gaurikund National highway on Tuesday.
The Rudraprayag district officials announced that due to prevailing landslides and incessant rains, the ‘Kedarnath yatra’ has been halted till further orders.
Photo caption” SDRF team at the accident site at Gangnani on Gangotri national highway on Tuesday.
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