Six Indians die on pilgrimage to Mansarovar

Six Indians on an annual pilgrimage to Kailash-Mansarovar in Tibet have died, while the 47 others who were stranded along the mountainous Nepal-China border have been successfully evacuated, officials said on Wednesday.

The six died between May 22 to June 1 near Mansarovar due to adverse climatic conditions and high altitude sickness, while the bodies of four who died two weeks ago have been sent home, they said.

The Indian pilgrims were stranded in Purang in Tibet due to local agitation in Nepal.

The six people who died are Pushpalata Bedegauda and Srikant Aiah Subhaiya from Bangalore, Prasara Murti Pandey from Kanpur, R B Umakanchan from Coimbatore, Damodar Aggrawal from Lucknow and Ghanta shala Sarala Devi from Chennai, according to Indian Embassy sources.

Thirty-three pilgrims, mostly old-aged were evacuated on Wednesday with the help of helicopters arranged by the Indian Embassy, while 14 were rescued on Tuesday.

"All the pilgrims have been taken from Purang in the Tibetan territory to Hilsa of western Nepal, from where they were flown to Nepalgunj, and they are safe," Indian Embassy spokesman Tshering W Sherpa said.

Meanwhile, bodies of four pilgrims who died two weeks back in Mansarovar area have been sent to their kins back in India. However, there is no connection between the death and the present situation there, the Embassy sources said.