All tourists from Maharashtra accounted for in Nepal

The Maharashtra government has managed to locate all the estimated 1,200 tourists from different parts of the state stranded in quake-ravaged Nepal, an official said here on Monday.

"So far we have contacted more than 1,100 tourists and mountaineers from the state and they are all safe," Suhas Diwase, the head of the Disaster Management Cell, relief & rehabilitation, told IANS.

Till Sunday night around 100 state tourists had already arrived in India and by Monday afternoon almost another 400 were expected.

"They are coming by various flights of Air India and now even the private airlines, besides many are taking the road journey to return home. Now the situation is fully under control," Diwase added.

The Maharashtra authorities experienced some anxious moments when all efforts failed to connect with around 25 tourists whose whereabouts remained uncertain till Sunday.

Later, all were contacted and their families informed of their well being.

The relief operations are being coordinated and supervised by special Control Rooms set up in the Mantralaya, Mumbai and also at Maharashtra Sadan in New Delhi.

Since Sunday evening, after a brief closure of Kathmandu's Tribhuvan International Airport following fresh tremors, flight operations have resumed and the stranded Indians have begun returning.

A Mumbai team of 15 mountaineers, who had gone for an expedition to Mount Annapurna, the 10th highest peak in the world standing at 26,545 feet, is safe and reached Kathmandu Sunday evening.