Five Vizag pilgrims among 6 killed in Uttarakhand

Six persons, five from Visakhapatnam, who were engaged in the pilgrimage of Char Dham Yatra were reportedly killed in the floods. The Uttarakhand officials sent a message to this effect to the State Government on Thursday.

The five pilgrims including a woman washed away in the flash floods at Rambada near Kedarnath. The deceased have been identified as Narayana Rao (36), K. Adilakshmi (70), Seeta Ramaswamy (50), Rama Rao (46) and Shyamprasad (46) of Visakhapatnam. The bodies of the deceased will be airlifted to Visakhapatnam soon. They were among a group of 15 persons who had gone on Char Dham Yatra earlier this month.

Three others from the same group were also missing. One of the members of the group Thursday informed their relatives over the phone about the tragedy. The group was caught in floods at Rampur check post near Kedarnath while returning from the pilgrimage.

Another man from the Anantapur district was also killed in the floods. J. Veerabhadraiah (21) was in another group of pilgrims stranded in the hills near Kedarnath.

About 150 survivors reached Andhra Pradesh Bhavan in New Delhi. The state officials in coordination with railways were making arrangements for their return to their destinations in Andhra Pradesh.

As many 2,800 pilgrims from the southern state are stranded in the floods. Relatives of 25 pilgrims from Kushaiguda in Hyderabad were anxiously waiting to hear about their near and dear ones. They have not heard anything since Saturday when the group was caught in floods while returning from Kedarnath.

Relatives of hundreds of others from Srikakulam, Visakhapatnam, East Godavari, West Godavari, Karimnagar, Khammam, Warangal, Kurnool and other districts are also anxious to know about their welfare.

The state government officials said they were in constant touch with Uttarakhand authorities to gather information about the pilgrims from the state and were making all steps for their safe return.

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