300 people, including 45 IIT students, stranded in HP safe: Official

About 300 people, including 45 IIT Roorkee students, stranded in various parts of Lahaul and Spiti district are safe, a Himachal Pradesh government official said Tuesday.

Following snowfall, the Rohtang Pass and inner roads in the area got blocked due to which about 300 people, including the students who were on a trekking expedition, got stranded, Keylong Sub Divisional Magistrate Amar Negi said.

Negi said two Indian Ai Force (IAF) helicopters have been sought from the state government for rescuing the stranded people.

All the people, including the 45 students, who got stuck due to bad weather and snowfall are safe, he said.

The stranded people were being provided shelter and food by the district administration.

State Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur will visit Lahaul-Spiti district later in the day to take stock of the situation arisen out of recent snowfall, he said.

Thakur was undertaking an aerial survey of several rain-hit areas of the state including those in Kullu and Lahaul-Spiti district to get first hand information of the situation, a state spokesperson said.

The Lahaul and Spiti district witnessed about four feet snowfall till Monday, as a result the Rohtang Pass and several inner roads blocked, Negi added.

The border road organisation (BRO) has cleared about six-km-long Keylong-Stingri road and work is on to clear other blocked inner roads.

Apart of truckers and tourists, several personnel of General Reserve Engineer Force (GREF) have also been reportedly stranded at various stations in the district, the SDM said, adding the exact number of stranded people was not clear yet.