Part of glacier breaks away blocking Kedarnath trek route

A part of a glacier broke away and slid down the mountainside blocking the trek route to the Kedarnath shrine on Wednesday, while the pilgrimage remained suspended due to inclement weather.

Four Nepali porters, who were stranded on the route, were rescued unhurt by the State Disaster Response Force personnel, SDRF head constable Santosh Rawat said.

“A part of the Bhairav/Kuber glacier broke away and slid down about 5 km below the Himalayan temple,” District Disaster Management Officer of Rudraprayag Nandan Singh Rajwar said.

“Luckily, the yatra was on hold on Wednesday and no one was hurt,” he said, adding the snow accumulated along the trek route will be removed once the weather improves.

Rawat said the rescued porters were going from Lincholi to Kedarnath.

The yatra to Kedarnath was put on hold Tuesday evening due to heavy snowfall in the higher reaches and pilgrims were asked to wait at places like Rishikesh, Shrinagar, Fata and Sonprayag.

Garhwal IG K S Nagnyal said it is being done to ensure the safety of pilgrims.

The situation is being reviewed on a daily basis and decisions are being taken accordingly, he said

DGP Ashok Kumar said snowfall was continuing in Kedarnath for the last 24 hours. He asked pilgrims to stay wherever they were and said they should wait for the official advisory on Thursday before embarking on their onward journey.