Uttarakhand: SDRF rescues devotee stranded due to snowfall during Kedarnath Yatra

Dehradun (Uttarakhand) [India], May 27 (ANI): Jawans of the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) rescued a devotee who lost his way during Kedarnath Yatra and was stranded near Meru Sumeru Mountain towards Bhairav temple and shifted him to the hospital in Rudraprayag city of Uttarakhand, an SDRF statement said on Saturday.

The SDRF jawans reached the devotee by walking about 4 km amid snow in the midst of extremely difficult conditions, inaccessible routes and heavy snowfall.
The SDRF statement said that on May 26, it received information from District Control Room, Rudraprayag that a pilgrim was stranded near Meru Sumeru mountain, 3 to 4 km ahead of Shri Kedarnath towards Bhairav Temple, due to bad weather and heavy snowfall, and that an SDRF team was required for rescue.

The SDRF shared the video of the rescue operation on their Official Twitter handle.

“The SDRF rescued the devotee Sachin Gupta resident of Vrindavan, Uttar Pradesh using alternative routes and safely brought him to Kedarnath with complete security,” it informed.

“Seeing his condition, he was immediately admitted to Vivekananda Hospital for treatment,” the statement added.

Earlier on May 16, the Uttarakhand Tourism Department said that more than 8 lakh pilgrims have visited the Kedarnath, Badrinath, Gangotri and Yamunotri shrines since the Chardham Yatra began on April 22.

It added that about 40 thousand pilgrims have been visiting the four Dhams daily and that the Kedarnath Yatra registration numbers had surpassed 30,000 per day.

“Till now, more than 8 lakh devotees have visited Kedarnath, Badrinath, Gangotri and Yamunotri shrines. The daily registration figure for Kedarnath Yatra has reached more than 30 thousand. At present about 40 thousand pilgrims are visiting the four Dhams daily,” the State Tourism Department said earlier in the month.