A total of 34 more tourists from Odisha were evacuated from the tragedy-hit Uttarakhand on Tuesday, taking the total rescued persons to 347. As many as about 150 more people from the State are still reportedly stranded in Badrinath and Harsil.
According to Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Surjya Narayan Patro, while the Resident Commissioner in New Delhi, Odisha Bhawan, had already dispatched 15 of the 34 by an Air India flight to Bhubaneswar on Tuesday, seven persons were back home on their own arrangements. However, twelve persons were likely to reach the Odisha Bhavan in the evening.
Nine of the 15 persons reaching Bhubaneswar are from Khordha, five from Cuttack and one from Brahmapur, he said, adding a total of 340 persons from Odisha have returned safe from Uttarakhand.
Stating that in addition to the three team of officers already camping in Utarakhand, Patro said an IPS officer in the rank of ADG, five OAS officers and three doctors including a lady doctor have been deployed at Haridwar, Dehradun and Rishikesh for better coordination and providing relief to the rescued people.
However, Patro said the fates of the 17 Sambalpur residents belonging to the Rathi family are still unknown.