Forty-eight more bodies were extricated from the heaps of rubble in Uttarakhand’s worst flood-hit Kedarnath area by police and NDRF personnel, even as four persons were feared dead when their jeep fell into the swollen Mandakini river.
The bodies, extricated since Thursday, were consigned to flames after necessary rituals, officials said on Friday. With this, the total number of bodies disposed of at the Himalayan shrine area has reached 188 since the start of operations over a month ago.
The police and NDRF personnel had a tough time in pulling out the bodies from the debris, as they had to cut through iron rods of the collapsed structures. While 25 bodies were extricated on Thursday, 23 were pulled out on Friday.
`5 lakh in cash, along with items like voter ID cards, marksheets and debit cards have been recovered from the Kedarnath area during the clearing-up operations, the officials said. In Ranikhet, four persons were feared dead after their jeep fell into the swollen Mandakini river yesterday. The vehicle, on its way to Chabndrapuri in Rudraprayag district from Agastyamuni, was swept away by the river’s waters.