40 more bodies recovered, 9,000 still stranded in Kedarnath

As the magnitude of the tragedy continued to unfold, Uttarakhand Principal Secretary Rakesh Sharma said casualty figures can be 'shockingly high'

Forty bodies of flood victims have been recovered from near Haridwar, taking the death toll to 190 as operations to rescue over 9,000 stranded in Kedarnath and Badrinath were stepped up with the deployment of 40 helicopters, confirmed Senior Superintendent of Police Rajeev Swaroop.

Rescuers were focussing on rain-ravaged Kedarnath and Badrinath area.

Meanwhile Dr. Praveen Mittal, an orthopaedic surgeon said, "We are carrying all the medicines and surgical equipments like switcher material and skin staplers and all the plaster material because many people out there are wounded and with the help of these things we can apply splint on them and provide them with primary first aid in a proper way. After that we will see if the patients could be airlifted or if anyone requires any major operation then it can be done in Dehradun."

Earlier, Information and broadcasting minister Manish Tewari said the railways is running free special trains from Haridwar for passengers.

Following the relief aid announced by different state governments to Uttarakhand so far.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has announced Rs.1,000 crore.

State Governments and Central Governmentsihar - Rs.5 crore disha - Rs.5 crore ttarakhand - Rs.5 crore ttar Pradesh - Rs.25 crore aryana - Rs.10 crore adhya Pradesh - Rs.5 crore arnataka - Rs.5 crore aharashtra -Rs.10 crore ujarat - Rs.2 crore elhi - Rs.10 crore hhattisgarh -Rs.5 crore Mahindra and Mahindra Group- Rs.1 crore.