INDIA, May 20, 2017 (Daily Sabah): Some 1,800 people [other reports give a higher number], many of them pilgrims, were stranded after a landslide hit a highway near a Hindu temple site in India’s northern mountainous state of Uttarakhand, officials said Saturday. The landslide triggered by pre-monsoon rains blocked the highway to the Badrinath temple, one of the main Hindu shrines in the region, leading to many vehicles being stuck on both sides.
“Around 1,800 people have been affected by the landslide. Authorities have made provisions for the lodging, food and drinking water of the people in the area,” state official Ashish Joshi said. Another state official, Vinod Kumar Suman, said there were no reports of deaths or injuries. Tens of thousands of Hindu pilgrims visit the temples in the Himalayan state every year. In 2013, heavy monsoon rains triggered devastating floods and landslides in the region, leaving more than 5,700 dead or missing and presumed dead.