Udupi, Jun 29: Caught in the fury of nature when bridges connecting to Kedarnath temple collapsed due to heavy rains and landslides, several pilgrim groups from coastal Karnataka which were left stranded in the area were declared safe.
One such pilgrim group consisting of nine members from Udupi district was confirmed safe in Badari, while another pilgrim group from Puttur is returning home.
Sources have confirmed that a group of nine pilgrims from Kunjibetti in Udupi district including catering businessman Narayana Bhat and Pradeep are safe in Badari.
Having left from Udupi in the Rajadhani Express on June 17, the pilgrim group reached Delhi and left for Haridwar where they had been staying. On June 24, they had been travelling towards Kedarnath via Yamunotri in a van where they encountered heavy rains on the way.
After being rescued and airlifted by a government helicopter from where they were stranded, they were dropped to a village named Path located 16 kilometres away. From there, the nine pilgrims made their way to Badari.
Since then, the group was notified to cancel their pilgrimage due to more landslides. Following this, the pilgrim group left for Haridwar and will return to Badari once the routes open. They will begin to proceed towards Udupi subsequently, informed Narayana Bhat.
Meanwhile, it is learnt that the group of pilgrims from Nehru Nagar in Puttur who had embarked on a pilgrimage to Uttarakhand had to cancel their journey owing to landslides.
The group consisting of VHP district secretary Radhakrishna Bhat, Sankappa Gowda, Ganesh Gowda, Krishnaraj Polya and Subrahmanya Rao, had left from Puttur five days ago.
From Kedaranath and Badrinath, the group was supposed to head towards the Kedarnath peak but were unable to move forward when the connecting bridge collapsed due to the landslides. Stranded in an area called Sona Prayag, they moved ahead and were forced to halt as they were unable to proceed any further.
Subsequently, they had to cancel their pilgrimage and have made plans to return home soon, it is learnt.
The group said that they had bought return tickets leaving towards Puttur on July 3.
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