Two dead, three critically injured in landslide on Kedarnath trek route

Two dead, three injured in Kedarnath landslide; officials urge caution for Char Dham pilgrims in Uttarakhand.

Two persons died while three got critically injured after they were hit by a landslide on Kedarnath trekking route in Uttarakhand on Wednesday.

According to the Rudraprayag district administration, the landslide occurred at 11.20 am near Jungle chatti ghat causing boulders to roll down the hillside hitting pilgrims and palanquin operators.

This is the second fatal incident of landslide at the Jungle Chatti route of the temple after a pilgrim died in a similar accident on Sunday.

The dead were identified as Nitin Kumar and Chandrashekhar, residents of Jammu & Kashmir, who came to Uttarakhand in May to operate palanquin service on the Kedarnath route.

The injured were identified as Sandeep Kumar, Nitin Manhas, both palanquin operators from Kashmir and Akash Chitriya, a pilgrim.

“As the landslide hit them, those in contact of it fell into a gorge. Police and SDRF personnel rushed to the spot and launched a search and rescue operation,” said Nandan Singh, district disaster management officer.

He added that it took three hours for the rescue teams to pull out the bodies from the deep gorge and take the injured to hospitals.