At least 30 pilgrims from Bihar, who were stuck up in Kedarnath for the last ten days after the flash floods and torrential rains hit them on June 16, are among the few fortunate to have survived to tell their “horrifying tale of near death”.
They purchased a packet of biscuit for Rs 200, one roti for Rs 100, even consumed muddy water when thirsty and trekked miles on foot.
Only to be alive at a time when hundreds of other pilgrims were either swept away in the current of water or hit by big boulders near the temple.
The group which returned to the State Capital by the Haridwar-Patna Express.
“Our ordeal started on June 16 midnight when the cloud burst took place. We were eyewitness to the caving in of the hotel in which we had been staying. Since then, we had been trekking along the hills, and, at times, carrying my septuagenarian mother Sushila Devi on my shoulder,” said Sanjay Agarwal, who along with his wife Poonam, was on a pilgrimage trip when the nature’s fury caught everyone unawares.
Sanjay lost all his belongings but survived on biscuit purchased at Rs 200 per packet. “There was no other option…Throughout my life, I am not going to forget the nightmarish experience.
We saw the bus, we had hired from Dehradun, washed away in the flash floods….We should thank army jawans who have done a yeoman’s service in helping those who survived,” he said.
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