Over 1,200 stranded Mansarovar pilgrims evacuated

Over 1,200 Indian pilgrims were moved to safety from Nepal's mountainous Simikot region on Friday, the Indian embassy here said, as efforts continued to evacuate those stranded in Hilsa while returning from the Kailash Mansarovar pilgrimage in Tibet amidst inclement weather.

Those rescued from Simikot have been moved to Nepalgunj and Surkhet, the two towns close to the Indian border and having better healthcare and infrastructure facilities.

"As on today, with concerted efforts, a total of 1,225 stranded pilgrims were airlifted from Simikot to Nepalgunj and Surkhet. For pilgrims airlifted to Surkhet, the embassy also put in bus service to ferry pilgrims to Nepalgunj," the Indian mission here said in a statement.

"The embassy also worked with tour operators to airlift around 675 stranded pilgrims at Hilsa to Simikot for onward evacuation to Nepalgunj and Surkhet," it said.

During the evacuation process, 74 commercial flights were operated and the embassy additionally pressed in private Choppers MI-16 along with Nepal Army helicopters that made more than 142 sorties in the difficult terrains of Hilsa-Simikot-Nepalgunj sectors, according to the statement.

Earlier on Friday, an Indian embassy official at Simikot told PTI that the number of stranded pilgrims in Hilsa, near the Tibet border, was "almost nil" now.

The official said several of the pilgrims who were moved to Surkhet and Nepalgunj have already begun their onward journey to India.

The Uttar Pradesh government has assisted in the process by deploying its state transport buses, the official said.