Five pilgrims and a pilot onboard a helicopter had a narrow escape when the aircraft on its way to Kedarnath made an emergency landing on the highway in Rudraprayag district on Saturday after developing a technical snag during take-off, officials said.
Soon after the crash on Sunday, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami held an emergency meeting and asked senior officials to prepare a strict SOP (standard operating procedure) for heli services in the state, making a thorough check of the technical condition of the choppers mandatory.
Rudraprayag District Disaster Management Officer Nandan Singh Rajwar told PTI that the accident took place above the forests of Gaurikund amid poor visibility due to bad weather.
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Since the yatra began, as many as 28 tourists en route to Kedarnath have died due to various reasons.
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The bodies were recovered on Saturday morning from the debris of flattened houses in the worst-hit Ukhimath area of the district, Disaster Management and Mitigation Centre officials said in Dehradun.
A large number of people are feared trapped in the debris and rescue operations have been launched, Disaster Management and Mitigation department officials in Dehrdun said citing initial reports.
The MeT department forecast very heavy rains over the next 48 hours in the mountainous areas of the state especially the disaster-prone Pithoragarh, Uttarkashi, Chamoli and Rudraprayag districts where torrential rains may trigger flash floods, cloudbursts and landslides asking people as well as authorities to be alert.
Puja at the Kedarnath temple is set to resume on September 11. However, the yatra to the battered shrine wouldn't resume this season.
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