Around 600 Indian nationals returning from the Kailash Mansarovar yatra are stranded at Simikot in western Nepal and another 350 in Hilsa, close to the border with Tibet, while other 500 to 700 more are stuck on the Tibetan sides due to heavy rains and subsequent landslides. At least two have died, one of possible high-altitude sickness and another of heart attack. Officials said their bodies have been airlifted. Pranav Ganesh, first secretary at the Indian embassy in Kathmandu, who is overseeing the rescue operation said, “Besides two deaths on Monday and Tuesday, no major health risk has been reported. Food is available and the Nepal government has provided paramedical facilities to the pilgrims.”
Bodies of Leela Naryanan Mandredath of Kerala, who died in Simikot of possible high altitude sickness and Satya Lakshmi Narayana Subba Rao Grandhi Veera Venkata of Andhra Pradesh, who died of a heart attack in Tibet were airlifted by helicopter to Kathmandu and Nepalgunj respectively. Around 158 pilgrims were airlifted in nine commercial flights from Simikot to Nepalgunj, a city near the Indian border and a three-hour drive from Lucknow. Another 200 pilgrims were moved from Hilsa to Simikot, the headquarters of Humla district that is comparatively safer. This is the largest rescue operation mounted in Nepal since the 2015 earthquakes. The three locations where the Indians are stranded are at an altitude of about 3,000 metres and the heavy downpours in Nepal since Monday have hampered efforts to airlift them.
Officials said the situation is currently under control and they expected all stranded pilgrims to be evacuated over the next three to four days, provided the weather conditions improve. “As soon as the weather clears, we will rescue them in helicopters and bring them to Nepalgunj,” Ganesh said. Thousands of pilgrims use the Nepalgunj-Humla-Hilsa-Tibet route to travel to Kailash-Mansarovar as it is shorter and more affordable. Health check-ups were done for all elderly pilgrims in Simikot and they were being provided medical help, while Nepalese police in Hilsa had been requested to provide assistance to the Indians, she said.
The Indian embassy has asked all tour operators to hold pilgrims back on the Tibetan side since medical and civic facilities in Nepal are inadequate, officials said. The operators were told to give priority to evacuating pilgrims from Hilsa, where the medical and communications infrastructure is lacking. The embassy is also looking at several alternatives for evacuating Indians from Simikot, including the use of three alternative routes though these appear to be as difficult as the Simikot-Nepalgunj route, officials said.
