55 IIT students back to safety from Lahaul

Shimla, September 25

As many as 270 stranded tourists, including 55 students from IIT-Rorkee and five from Kolkata, were rescued from the snowbound Lahaul valley in Himachal Pradesh today. 

However, over 900 persons, including foreigners, were feared to be stuck in Sarchu, Bharatpur, Jispa, Darcha, and Zing Zing Bar on the Manali-Leh highway and at Chandratal, Batal, Chatru, Kunzum Pass and Gramphu.

Services on 493 bus routes remained suspended for the third day with 619 roads across the state blocked by landslides. An IAF chopper airlifted five tourists stranded at Patseo to Bhuntar. In another operation, 249 tourists, including the 55 IIT-Roorki students lodged in a hotel at Sissu, were evacuated to safety, BRO commander AK Awasthi said.

CM Jai Ram Thakur undertook an aerial survey of rain-ravaged Kullu and Lahaul-Spiti. “We have urged  Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for Rs 200 crore as immediate aid for relief, restoration and rehabilitation,” he said. — TNS