Avalanche hits 3km from Kedarnath shrine

DEHRADUN: An avalanche occurred between Bhairav and Kuber glaciers near Kedarnath temple on Wednesday evening, completely blocking the trek route to the Himalayan shrine, the district emergency operation centre (DEOC) said.

There were no casualties as the yatra was suspended on Wednesday due to heavy snowfall. However, four local workers had a narrow escape and were evacuated by a team of the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF). "Two successive avalanches occurred at around 4:55pm between near Lincholi, which is just 3 km from the temple," said NK Rajwar, disaster management officer of Rudraprayag district.

Meanwhile, the avalanche has made it uncertain whether the yatra will resume on Thursday as had been announced by police. "The heaps of snow will have to be manually removed from the trek route, which might take time. Three dozen workers have been pressed into service for this," Rajwar said.

Badrinath too, received heavy snowfall, forcing the Chamoli district police to issue an advisory for pilgrims. "Only those with confirmed hotel or guesthouse bookings are advised to come to Badrinath," said Kailash Chandra Bhatt, in-charge of Badrinath police station.