Chennai: Nineteen people including 10 from TN who have been stranded at Muktinath for the last four days due to stormy weather conditions there were rescued by Nepali authorities after Indian officials alerted them on Thursday. Among the 10, three women, Sankari, wife of Karthik, her sister Maheswari and Karthik’s elder sister Jayalakshmi, Ramalingam and his wife Kumari, Suguna, G. Gopi and Chellammal are from Kancheepuram while Padmanabhan and his wife Thulasi are from Aminjikarai here.
According to the family members in Kancheepuram, two pilgrims each from Mysuru and Bengaluru and about seven from Andhra Pradesh were also stranded near the temple due to landslide. About seven of the group of 17 (from TN) who had reached Nepal on July 25, had remained at the foot of the hill and could not make it to the temple. Muktinath is one of the sacred places for Hindus and is located in Muktinath Valley at an altitude of 3,710 meters at the foot of Thorong La mountain pass that is part of the Himalayas, in Mustang, Nepal.
The pilgrims from TN who also included 8 women had commenced their journey on the night of July 20 and reached Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh (bordering Nepal) and from there they left by van. On the morning of July 25, Gopi, who had arranged the religious trip, informed his brother-in-law S. Durai over phone that he and nine others had a good darshan and that the remaining members of the team could not make it to the temple.
On Thursday, Venkatesan who had remained at the foot of the hill called up Durai to inform that Gopi and others have been stranded. He along with Karthik and Ganesh, son of Chellammal, hurriedly convened a press conference in Kancheepuram and appealed to authorities to rescue their relatives. Later along with media persons, they petitioned Kancheepuram district collector R. Gajalakshmi who assured all assistance.
