Around 1,575 Indian pilgrims on their way to Kailash Mansarovar were stranded in Nepal’s Simikot and Hilsa as well as in Tibet following landslides caused by heavy rains, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said on Tuesday. While 525 of these were stranded in Simikot, 500 were in Hilsa and 550 in Tibet.

One pilgrim, identified as Granthi Subbarao from Andhra Pradesh, died in Hilsa, ANI reported. His body is being brought back to Nepalgunj for autospy, and will then be sent to his hometown. As many as 104 pilgrims have been evacuated from Hilsa to Simikot. Two commercial airliners also arrived in Simikot to evacuate the 525 pilgrims there.

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The Indian embassy in Nepal said it was monitoring the situation and trying to evacuate those stranded as soon as possible.

“The Indian Embassy in Nepal has deployed representatives in Nepalganj and Simikot,” the external affairs minister said. “They are in touch with the pilgrims and ensuring that food and lodging facilities are available to all.” She added that a health check-up camp for the pilgrims was set up in Simikot.

“We have requested the government of Nepal for army helicopters to evacuate stranded Indian nationals,” Swaraj said. “We have set up hotlines for pilgrims and their family members who will provide information in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam languages.”

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“We’re trying to bring those who’re stranded in Hilsa which is at a height of 3,600 metres,” Nepal Acting Ambassador to India BK Regmi said. “Eleven helicopters of the Nepal government and several private helicopters are operational.”

Of those stranded, at least 290 are from Karnataka. Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy’s office had tweeted on Monday asking for help from the Indian embassy in Nepal, the state emergency operation centre and the revnue department (disaster management). Kumaraswamy also said he had asked the resident commissioner of Karnataka Bhavan in New Delhi to take all action necessary to protect the pilgrims.