Himachal rain fury: 50 missing trekkers located in Lahaul-Spiti

A group of 50 trekkers including 35 students of IIT Roorkee, who were earlier reported missing, have been located and are safe in the Sissu area of Lahaul-Spiti, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jairam Thakur told news agency ANI.

Heavy rains in Himachal Pradesh have claimed eight lives and injured three even as the water level in the Beas dam breached the danger mark on Tuesday.

Two German nationals, who were caught in a blizzard for two days, were rescued by Indian Air Force from Pingdom La in the Lahaul-Spiti district on Tuesday, ANI reported. The operation was launched at 6 am and the duo were rescued within an hour.

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According to TV news channel, the Bhakra Beas Management Board announced the release of 49,000 cusecs of water from Pong dam at 3 pm on Tuesday into the Beas river. Around 1 lakh cusecs were released late night from Ropar barrage into the Sutlej. Owning to the fresh warning, people living in the low-lying areas have been asked to be shifted to safer places.

Ten of the 12 districts in the state have been affected by flash floods and landslides. As many as 378 roads --- 213 in Shimla zone, 49 in Mandi zone, 29 in Hamirpur zone and 86 in the Kangra zone ---were closed on Monday. The Kalka-Shimla highway was affected after a huge boulder hit a moving car. Falling boulders also led to the suspension of rail traffic on the Kalka-Shimla heritage rail line, according to reports.

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All government and private educational institutions and Anganwadi centres in Kangra district will remain closed today even as a red alert has been issued in Kangra, Kullu and Chamba for the next 24 hours.