Whereabouts of 284 Andhra pilgrims still unknown

The whereabouts of 284 pilgrims from Andhra Pradesh who had gone to Uttarakhand for Char Dham yatra are still not known, officials said Wednesday.

The missing people include 153 pilgrims from Hyderabad and 68 from neighbouring district of Ranga Reddy. The remaining pilgrims are from eight other districts.

Fourteen pilgrims are so far confirmed dead in the floods.

Out of 2,616 pilgrims who had gone to the hill state for the yatra, 1,239 have so far returned home safely while another 933 are on way to their destinations. There are some pilgrims staying at Andra Pradesh Bhavan, the state government's office in New Delhi.

Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy, who is in Delhi, reviewed the rescue and relief measures with ministers Sridhar Babu and Uttam Kumar Reddy and senior officials.

A special aircraft arranged by the main opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) landed here Wednesday night from Dehradun with 105 pilgrims. TDP chief N. Chandrababu Naidu received the pilgrims at the airport.

This was the second aircraft arranged by the TDP. The first aircraft with 196 pilgrims landed here from New Delhi late Monday night.