Himalayan disaster: 15,000 still stranded; toll to cross 5,000

Nearly 15,000 people remain still remain stranded in the higher reaches of Uttarakhand – many of them without food or drinking water - a week after rescue efforts began in the flood and landslide-ravaged mountain state.

Intermittent spells of rain and bad weather continue to hamper search and rescue operations; helicopters have not been able to fly this morning. Landslides late on Sunday night have blocked major routes that were being used to evacuate people by foot.

Spelling more bad news for the stranded, the meteorological department has forecast another bout of bad weather beginning today, which will continue till 30 June.

Some 80,000 people have been rescued so far, a large number of them pilgrims to the holy-of-holy mountain shrines of Kedarnath, Badrinath, Gangotri and Yamunotri. The official death toll is now 670, but Uttarakhand disaster management minister Yashpal Arya told reporters on Sunday that he expects the death toll to touch 5,000.

All those stranded at worst-hit Kedarnath are said to have been rescued; the focus has now shifted to Badrinath and Harsil near Uttarkashi, where thousands still remain cut off.

Preparations are under way for a mass cremation in Kedarnath amid concerns of an outbreak of disease from rotting bodies, officials said. As much as 50 tonnes of wood and the same amount of ghee are being ferried there by helicopter as and when the when the weather permits, for the last rites.

"We have decided to start mass cremation today. The priests of temples have been requested to participate in the final rites," K N Pandey, an official with the state disaster management team, told a news agency.

Two major landslides were reported near Rudraprayag, a major base camp for rescue operations. These have blocked a main road that is being used to carry relief supplies. Work is on to clear the road.

More than 1,000 bridges have been damaged along with roads, cutting off several villages and towns. Army and Indo-Tibetan Border Police personnel have been using harnesses and erecting rope bridges across flooded rivers to move people to safety.

The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) is using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to locate survivors in remote areas that still remain inaccessible.

The DNA of those who died in Uttarakhand and now cannot be identified is being preserved, with officials saying that many of the bodies have decomposed.