Rudraprayag: A five-year-old boy was killed after being struck by falling rocks near Chirbasa on the Kedarnath pilgrimage route in Uttarakhand’s Rudraprayag district on Sunday evening.
The child was identified as Yash, son of Rohtash Yadav, a resident of Etah in Uttar Pradesh.
Continuous rockfall and landslide activity along the route has triggering panic among pilgrims in the area.
The control room received information about the landslide and falling rocks in the Chirbasa area at around 4.39 pm on September 27, the police said. The child was caught in the sudden rockfall and died at the spot. His body was later taken by a palanquin to MRP Bhairav Temple in Jungle Chatti, as reported by abp LIVE.
A section of the Kedarnath pedestrian route near Chirbasa was also blocked due to continuous fall of rocks and debris. Rescue teams stationed along the pilgrimage route immediately reached the affected area and began assisting stranded travellers.
Rescue personnel initially evacuated around 1,100 pilgrims to safer locations as the landslide blocked the route and made movement dangerous, the district disaster management department said.
Nandan Singh Rajwar, district disaster management officer said the safety of pilgrims remained the administration’s top priority. Rescue teams continued to monitor the affected stretch while coordinating efforts to move travellers to safer areas, he said.
On Sunday night, the Rudraprayag district control room informed the Sonprayag Police that several pilgrims were stranded on the other side of the route near Chirbasa, around three kilometres from Gaurikund, following another bout of sliding.
An SDRF Sonprayag team led by sub-inspector Ashish Dimri rushed to the spot. On reaching the area near the Chirbasa helipad, the team found debris blocking the route, while continuous rockfall from the hillside made movement along the stretch extremely risky.
The SDRF, NDRF and DDRF teams then launched a joint rescue operation. They carefully assisted the pilgrims across the affected zone and safely brought around 1,500 people to the other side before escorting them towards Gaurikund.
The rescue operation was carried out despite continued rockfall and the possibility of further landslides in the area. The coordinated efforts of the three rescue teams helped move the stranded pilgrims to safety.
With rain continuing in the region, the administration has urged pilgrims to remain patient and cooperate with rescue personnel. The risk of further rockfall and landslides remains a concern along the Chirbasa stretch of the Kedarnath route.