UTTARAKHAND FLOODS-25TH JUNE,2013
DEATH TOLL CLIMBS
In calamity-hit Uttarakhand, where the death toll mounted to 822
with 127 more bodies recovered from Kedarnath, rescue operations finally picked
up pace with helicopter carrying out numerous sorties to evacuate around 9,000
stranded people in the flood-hit state.Fresh incidents of landslips were also
reported from Tehri district in which a woman and a child were killed.Foggy and
overcast conditions in Dehradun had delayed take off by choppers at
Sahasradhara helipad and Jolly Grant Airport but air rescue operations resumed
with improvement in the weather. Four choppers made sorties to Badrinath today
and evacuated 60 people, officials said.Official sources that 127 more bodies
were recovered since yesterday from Kedarnath area. At least 15 bodies of
flash-flood victims were found floating in Ganga in different districts of
Uttar Pradesh including Muzaffarnagar, Bulandshahr and Bijnore, taking the toll
in the tragedy to 822.
In Patna, Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde said that he had
asked the Uttarakhand government not to allow any VIP to land in the
flood-ravaged areas to avoid any disturbance to relief work.He said that
situation was improving in Uttarakhand and relief work was going on at a faster
pace. Many devotees have been evacuated from Kedarnath and Badrinath, he said
adding 37 helicopters were ferrying stranded pilgrims to safety.Amid fear of an
epidemic, massive efforts were on to conduct the last rites of those killed in
Kedarnath.Truck loads of dry Deodar wood and ghee have been despatched to
Kedarnath and the efforts are on to conduct mass ritual cremation of bodies
strewn over the premises after their identification, post mortem and DNA
preservation formalities, sources at the state police headquarters here told .
Prof. John Kurakar
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