J&K floods: Mangaloreans safe, airlifted to Srinagar

MANGALORE: For Dr Vikram Rao the last three days were unimaginable and ridden with anxiety. His father, Dr Ramananda Rao along with six others, were stranded in Jammu and Kashmir following floods and there was no communication from the group after Saturday. He heaved a sigh of relief on Tuesday, when his uncle called him to say they were safe and were being airlifted from Awantipur air base to Sringar.
Dr Vikram, working at Manipal AcuNova Clinical Research Centre, said: On Saturday, my sister Veekshita had called me to cancel some tickets. That was the last we heard from them. I tried calling them afterwards, but it was not reachable.
Seven persons, businessman J Krishnananda Rao, his wife Mallika Rao, Dr Ramananda Rao from Puttur, his wife Soumini Rao, daughter Veekshita Rao, JK Rao's brother in law Anil Rao, businessman from Mumbai his wife Jayashree Rao went on a tour to J&K. They started from here on August 30 and reached Delhi on August 31.
Dr Vikjram said his father had booked the tour to Pahalgam through Vivekananada Tours long back. Last I heard they were in Pahalgam. Today I was relieved when I got a call from my fiancee that my father called to say that they were safe. Later at 4.30pm, I got a call from my uncle (JK Rao) to say that they were airlifted. He just spoke to me for seconds. I could hear my father's voice in the background and also sound of the chopper,'' he said. Dr Vikram even had gone to Mangalore North police station to see if they could help him trace the location of the cell phones the group had.
The group is expected to reach Delhi within two days and by weekend they should be here, said Dr Vikram.