Uttarakhand cloudburst: Missing 28-member Kerala tourist group safe — for now

A 28-member group of tourists, natives of Kerala, who had gone missing after a cloudburst triggered massive mudslides in Uttarakhand, are safe —for now — family members have now said on 6 August, Wednesday.

A relative of a Kochi-based couple, who were part of the tour group, told reporters there that defence sources informed them that all 28 tourists were safe.

"The latest information we received from defence sources was that they are safe, but are still stuck in the bus and cannot go anywhere. Majority of them are above 55 years of age. Even Army personnel are unable to reach where their bus is located," the relative, Ambili N. Nair, told reporters.

She said that even the Malayalam Samajam in Uttarakhand confirmed that the tourists were safe but stranded.

Of the 28 individuals, 20 are reportedly from Kerala but settled in Maharashtra, while the remaining eight are from various districts in Kerala, Ambili told the media in the morning.

She said the couple's son last spoke to them a day ago.

"They said they were leaving from Uttarkashi to Gangotri at around 8:30 a.m. that day. The landslides occurred along that route. We have been unable to contact them since they left," she had said.

She said that the Haridwar-based travel agency, which arranged the 10-day Uttarakhand tour, was also unable to provide any update on the group's whereabouts.

"Their phones may have run out of battery by now. There is no mobile network in that region currently," she said.

At least four people have been confirmed dead in the disaster that struck Dharali, an ecologically fragile region in Uttarakhand, following the cloudburst on 5 August, Tuesday afternoon.

Officials said nearly half of Dharali was buried under a massive mudslide of slush, debris, and water. The village is a key stop on the route to Gangotri, the origin of the Ganga, and hosts several hotels and homestays.