Himachal to airlift 175 tourists stranded in Lahaul-Spiti

Shimla, July 29 A total of 175 tourists, including 16 children and 60 women, stranded in Udaipur in Himachal Pradesh's remote Lahaul-Spiti district for the past two days as roads have been closed for traffic after the landslides, will be be airlifted on priority, an official said on Thursday.

The state government has been requested to provide a chopper to airlift all the stranded tourists, Deputy Commissioner Neeraj Kumar told the media.

He said the tourists have been put up at nearby government rest houses and accommodations.

Kumar said traffic on the Manali-Leh highway and the Manali-Udaipur highway have been restored.

Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur is reaching the spot on Friday morning to reviewAthe ongoing road restoration work and the relief operations.

The government has issued an advisory for tourists and locals to refrain from high mountains, wandering near rivers and other places vulnerable to landslides.

Seven were washed away in a flash flood in the Tozing rivulet in Udaipur subdivision in Lahaul-Spiti, some 15 km from district headquarters Keylong, after a cloudburst on July 28. Three people are still missing, and feared to have been killed.

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