Landslide on Kedarnath route: Death toll climbs to five

Bodies of four more pilgrims were recovered on Tuesday from the debris of a landslide that occurred on Monday evening on the Kedarnath route, taking the toll in the incident to five, officials said.

More pilgrims could be trapped under the debris, Rudraprayag Police said on Tuesday.

A group of pilgrims returning from a visit to Kedarnath were trapped in the landslide at around 7.20 pm on Monday.

SDRF and NDRF personnel had launched a rescue operation immediately and retrieved one body of a pilgrim identified as Gopal (50) from Dhar in Madhya Pradesh besides rescuing three others who were rushed to Sonprayag in an ambulance.

The rescue operation had to suspended due to bad weather and boulders still falling from the hillside intermittently on Monday night.

As recuse efforts were resumed on Tuesday morning, bodies of four more pilgrims, including three women, were pulled out of the debris.

The pilgrims were identified as Durgabai Khapar (50) from Ghat district in Madhya Pradesh, Titli Devi (70) from Vaidehi village of Nepal's Dhanwa district, Saman Bai (50) from Dhar, Madhya Pradesh and Bharat Bhai Niralal (52) from Surat, Gujarat.

Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has expressed grief over the loss of lives in the incident.