NEW DELHI, September 29 (RIA Novosti) - Russian tourists stranded in India's Himalayas because of a heavy snowfall have been evacuated by helicopter to nearby settlements, the director of the tour operator that organized the trip for Russians said Saturday.
"I have very good news: four Russian tourists and four Indian guides have been rescued," Sanjay Saini said.
A team of four Russian tourists accompanied by local guides, as well as teams of climbers from Germany and Australia also accompanied by guides and porters, were making an ascent in order to reach a Hindu pilgrimage site, Badrinath, in the northern state of Uttarakhand. Snowfall became stronger and several groups of climbers found themselves trapped in the mountains.
No information is yet available about the rescue of German, Australian and Indian tourists, to be saved by Indian authorities that planned to send helicopters.
Earlier, a Russian embassy official said about 100 people had gone missing in the Himalayas.
Saini, who paid for the two-hour rescue operation out of his own funds, said the Russian group was evacuated from the altitude of 4,480m.
The season of pilgrimage trips to shrines in the Himalayas usually ends in October, but this year, cold weather suddenly came in earlier than expected.
