10 June : Two IAF helicopters were on Thursday pressed into service to rescue nine persons including a senior West Bengal government official stranded due a blizzard at a tourist spot in Rudraprayag as inclement weather hampered the operation for the second consecutive day.
The Indian Air Force helicopters made several attempts but due to the blizzard and poor visibility, they failed to land at Mayali top, about 250 km from here, said Ravinath Raman, District Magistrate of Rudraprayag.
The choppers would again try on Friday morning to reach the nine people, including five tourists from West Bengal, near the Kedarnath area, he said.
A rescue team comprising police personnel and trekkers sent by the administration also failed to move beyond Vasukital area due to the blizzard and returned today, Raman said. Mayali top is at a trekking distance of 5 km from Vasukital.
The DM said he has also sought help from Indo-Tibet Border Police, Nehru Institute of Mountaineering at Uttarkashi and mountaineering institute at Auli to rescue the tourists and provide them food and water.
According to the information provided by porters, the DM said, 58-year-old Gautam Vishwas, Joint Commissioner (Commercial) of West Bengal is among those stranded. The other four tourists from West Bengal have ben identified as Gautam (70), Meenu (40), Mathew (25) and Sachin (35). Four others are porters from Uttarakhand.