Thane, Aug 31 (PTI) For a group of 43 pilgrims from Maharashtra, the journey back from Nepal felt like a blessing, yet it was shadowed by the chilling memory that the hotel where they had just sat down for breakfast was swept away moments later in the flash floods.
Returning home after narrowly escaping the tragedy, they carried the haunting realisation of how close they had come to disaster.
The 43 pilgrims from Maharashtra, including residents of Thane, returned to Mumbai on Sunday after being stranded amidst flash floods and landslides along the Nepal-China border during their Kailash Mansarovar Yatra.
The floods washed away the hotel where they had stayed and some of its staff members lost their lives, one of the pilgrims said.
“When we learned that the hotel, where we had eaten our breakfast a little while earlier, had been swept away along with its staff members, we were left completely numb,” said Prakash Shantaram Mane, a Kalyan resident who had travelled with his wife Pratibha.
He expressed profound relief upon landing in Mumbai.
The pilgrims, who had travelled through Rudra Tour and Travels, were stuck in the Timure border area shortly after crossing into China. Following instructions from Chinese authorities, restrictions were placed on movement, leaving pilgrims from around the world stranded in Saga, Mane said.
Some of the pilgrims managed to establish contact with Abhijit Darekar, a close aide of Kalyan MP Dr Shrikant Shinde, he said.
The Emergency Control Room of the Maharashtra government and Thane District Collectorate were continuously tracking the group’s location, a local official said here.
Thane Resident Deputy Collector Sandeep Mane, Kalyan tehsildar Vikas Gardukar and MLA Rajesh More maintained direct communication with the group.
The pilgrims, accompanied by nine Nepali tour staff, eventually returned to Kathmandu on August 29 before boarding a Nepal Airlines flight to Mumbai on Sunday afternoon. PTI COR KRK GK
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