National
Movement of stranded Indian pilgrims resumes
Hordes of Indian travellers returning from their Kailash Mansarovar pilgrimage in Tibet breathed a sigh of relief on Tuesday after “partly good weather” permitted nearly a dozen flights to and from Simikot Airport.Sangam Prasain & Raj Bahadur Shahi
Hordes of Indian travellers returning from their Kailash Mansarovar pilgrimage in Tibet breathed a sigh of relief on Tuesday after “partly good weather” permitted nearly a dozen flights to and from Simikot Airport.
According to airlines operators, more than 150 Indian pilgrims were airlifted from Simikot to Nepalgunj on Tuesday while 250 were flown from Hilsa to Simikot by helicopter. Sita Air alone airlifted 91 travellers from Simikot.
“We hope to clear the backlog of passengers by Wednesday as the weather is expected to remain fairly good,” said Ghanshyam Acharya, senior general manager of Sita Air. According to Acharya, 88 travellers were flown to Simikot from Nepalgunj on the day.
Nearly 500 pilgrims had been stranded in Simikot and Hilsa for the last three days due to inclement weather. Tenzin Norbu Lama, managing director of Sunny Travels and Treks, one of the major tour operators handling the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra, said 200 Indian travellers were stranded in Hilsa, the Nepal-China border point, due to bad weather. In Simikot, there were 300 pilgrims. Currently, there are more than 1,000 travellers on the Tibet side.
According to operators, news regarding food and water shortages and Indian pilgrims trapped in the mountains in Nepal, which went “viral”, was unnecessarily blown. “Obviously, Indian pilgrims have been stranded as the air transport links were cut off due to bad weather but they are no problems in food and accommodation,” said Lama. “However, mountain areas lack proper medical facilities in the event of pilgrims suffering from altitude sickness due to their prolonged stay in the region.”
India’s Minister for External Affairs Sushma Swaraj tweeted that there were about 525 Indian pilgrims stranded in Simikot, 550 in Hilsa and 500 on the Tibet side. As tension ran high on Tuesday, @Hello_Sarkar, the government’s twitter handle, responded: “Due to weather disturbance, the planes are at halt. At present, the food availability is okay. But if the same condition continues, some scarcity may arise. Till now, there is no such tension on behalf of the stranded pilgrims.”
On Tuesday, the Indian Embassy in Nepal, with support from airlines authorities, dispatched a four-member medical team to Simikot and Hilsa. This year, tour operators hope to serve between 20,000 and 25,000 Indian pilgrims. Last year, nearly 15,000 Indians visited the holy sites. The Kailash Mansarovar Yatra normally begins in May and lasts till September.
Two pilgrims die
Meanwhile, two Indian pilgrims died in Simikot and Tibet. According to the statement issued by the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu, Leela Narayanan Mandredath of Kerala died in Simikot on Monday morning possibly due to high altitude sickness, while Satya Lakshmi Narayana Subba Rao Grandhi Veera Venkata of Andhra Pradesh succumbed to a heart attack in Tibet.