Woman dead, 5 rescued after avalanche hits Uttarakhand’s Atlakoti

Chamoli (Uttarakhand) [India], June 5 (ANI): A woman was killed while five others have been rescued after a group of pilgrims were hit by an avalanche in Uttarakhand’s Atlakoti on Sunday.

Officials said a group of six pilgrims were stuck after a glacier fragment broke off at Atlakoti on the Hemkund Sahib Yatra route on Sunday evening.

While five of them were rescued, a woman had gone missing after the incident.

Following this, a joint search and rescue operation was launched by the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF), and Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP). Later, the woman’s body was recovered from the same area.

According to officials, the deceased has been identified as Kamaljit Kaur.

“A total of 6 Sikh pilgrims were trapped in this avalanche. ITBP and SDRF successfully rescued five pilgrims on Sunday. During the search this morning, the team found the body of a female pilgrim, Kamaljit Kaur, in the snow,” SDRF commandant Manikant Mishra said.

According to the SDRF commandant, the body of the woman was handed over to the local police by SDRF.

Earlier on May 26, the yatra of Shri Hemkund Sahib, in Uttarakhand was halted for two days due to the snow lying on the route and an alert of heavy rains and after two days on May 28 resumed the yatra.

The portal of Hemkund Sahib opened for devotees on May 20 earlier in the month.

Earlier in the month, officials said that a ban was imposed on the travel of children and elders above 60 years of age in view of heavy snow in Hemkund Sahib.

The literal meaning of the Hemkund Sahib is “Lake of Snow” and it is the highest Gurudwara in the world with a height of 4,633 meters above sea level.