Shimla:
Twelve foreigners were among the 150 airlifted on Sunday by the Air Force helicopters from various places in rain-ravaged Kinnaur district while National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) team rescued 50 tourists.
The Hindustan-Tibet National Highway has been restored up to district headquarter at Rekong Peo after eight days but the road links to Sangla, Pooh, Samdoh and other places in the interior parts of Kinnaur would take some more days to open for vehicular traffic, officials said.
Over 50 stranded tourists, in picturesque Sangla valley for past eight days were evacuated on foot by team of NDRF while 90 tourists were airlifted and dropped at Rampur.
The Air Force choppers airlifted 15 persons including 12 French bikers while six persons were evacuated from Pooh and another 15 from Gaybang.
"50 odd tourists assisted by rescue teams of NDRF left for Karcham from Sangla in batches," R K Bhardwaj, assisting the rescue operations in Sangla said, adding that around 200 tourists are still stranded in Sangla.
Officials said the trekking distance between Sangla and Karcham was seven km but road distance was 18 km. The rescued people would be taken to the base camp at Rampur from Karcham.
The Air Force and state choppers have so far air-lifted 950 persons, including 35 foreigners during past seven days but a large number of people, included locals, are still struck up in the tribal district. The total number of people rescued in the state has reached 1,000.
Deputy Commissioner J M Pathania said efforts would be made to evacuate the remaining tourists and other people within few days, while full restoration of roads would take couple of days.
The sky remained overcast in the region and barring showers at isolated places, the weather mainly remained dry and there was no major change in mercury.
Sundernagar recorded 17 mm of rains, followed by Mandi 7 mm and Dharamsala and Jogindernagar 6 mm each.
The minimum temperature stayed at 28 degree Celsius, seven notches above normal while state capital Shimla recorded a low of 18.7 deg C, 3 deg above normal while the mercury rose to 13.4 deg at Kalpa and Keylong in tribal districts of Kinnaur and Lahaul and Spiti.
Una was hottest in the region with maximum temperature at 39.8 deg while Bhuntar recorded a high of 33.7 deg, followed by Sundernagar 32.8 deg, Solan 29.6 deg, Dharamsala 29.4 deg, Nahan 29.1 deg, Kalpa 26.4 deg and Shimla 24.5 deg C.