New Delhi:

A defective helicopter, which was being airlifted from Uttarakhand’s Kedarnath to Gauchar by an MI-17 chopper, accidentally fell from mid-air as the towing rope snapped this morning.

The helicopter, which was operated by a private company, crashed near the Mandakini River in Lincholi. An official said that no one was injured in the accident, which was caught on camera.

“Today, the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) rescue team received information through police in Lincholi that a faulty helicopter of a private company, which was being towed by another helicopter from Shri Kedarnath helipad to Gochar helipad, fell into the river at Lincholi near Tharu Camp. The SDRF team has reached the spot and relief work is going on. There has been no loss of life in this incident,” the news agency ANI quoted an official as saying.

The chopper was earlier involved in ferrying passengers to Kedarnath temple.

There has been a sharp drop in the number of pilgrims going to Kedarnath since July 31 due to extensive damage caused by heavy rain to the trek route to the Himalayan temple.

Rain-induced landslides along the route from Gaurikund to Kedarnath had left thousands of people stranded, prompting the administration to launch a massive rescue operation aided by the Air Force’s Chinook and MI17 helicopters, besides private choppers.

Though the trek route had remained largely suspended in August, the pilgrims arrived at the temple on helicopters.

Chardham Yatra began this year on May 10 with the opening of the Kedarnath, Gangotri, and Yamunotri temples for pilgrims. The portals of Badrinath opened on May 12.

More than 33 lakh pilgrims have so far visited the Himalayan temples.

Rudraprayag, Uttarakhand:

A massive avalanche hit the Gandhi Sarovar located four kilometres above the Kedarnath Dham here early Sunday morning but there was no loss of life or property, a district official said.

Devotees who went to the temple this morning captured the avalanche, which occurred around 5 am near the Chorabari glacier, on their mobile phones.

Chilling visuals showed a massive avalanche that occurred over Gandhi Sarovar in Kedarnath. No loss of life & property was reported.#Kedarnath#Avalanche#Uttarakhandpic.twitter.com/qUyZ83M240

— विवेक सिंह नेताजी (@INCVivekSingh) June 30, 2024

The temple currently has a significant presence of devotees as the Char Dham Yatra, to Yamunotri, Gangotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath shrines in Uttarakhand, is underway.

A huge cloud of snow was seen sliding down the mountain with speed and stopped after falling into a deep ravine. The avalanche occurred in the upper region of the Gandhi Sarovar in Chorabari glacier, below the snow-covered Meru-Sumeru mountain range located at the upper end of the Kedarnath valley.

Rudraprayag District Disaster Management Officer Nandan Singh Rajwar said there was no loss of life or property due to the avalanche.  The entire area, including the Kedarnath valley, is safe, Rajwar said.

Gopal Singh Rauthan, an employee of Garhwal Mandal Development Corporation, was present in the temple when the avalanche occurred.

He said that there was a lot of curiosity among the devotees who witnessed this natural phenomenon for about five minutes. Another avalanche occurred in the Chorabari glacier on June 8.

In 2022, three avalanches hit the area in the months of September and October. Five such incidents of avalanches were reported in the Chorabari glacier in May and June 2023. Following this, scientists from the Indian Institute of Remote Sensing and the Wadia Institute took stock of the entire situation by conducting terrestrial and aerial surveys of the area.

The team of scientists had then described these incidents as “normal” in the Himalayan region, but they had emphasised on improving security in the Kedarnath Dham area.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)