• Source:JND
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Five tourists who were stranded in the battling, harsh conditions for two days on the Kaza Manali road in Himachal’s Spiti were successfully extricated by the local authorities and youth volunteers on Tuesday. The incident took place after the group of five youngsters chose to ignore the advice of locals who tried to dissuade their departure but they set out from Losar for Manali in their Fortuner.   

The rescued individuals were identified as Lakshya Garg from Sirsa, Yash Dhingra from Delhi, Anshul Chauhan from Shimla, Ansh Bharti from Ranchi and Ayush Panghal from Delhi.

After the five tourists didn’t reach their hometowns, their family members reported to the district authorities about their missing. District Magistrate Rahul Kumar initiated a rescue operation to find the stranded tourists following which a rescue team was formed consisting of multiple agencies. 

The rescue teams included personnel from ITBP, BRO, Public Works Department, Forest Department and Himachal Pradesh Police. Rescuers from Garg Sons Estate Promoter, youths from various villages of Spiti and TAC member Kesang Rapchik were also part of the rescue operation which left for Batal from Losar with 10 vehicles to search for the five tourists. 

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The rescue team managed to travel only three kilometres behind Kunjam Top due to heavy snow obstructing their mission on Monday. The team regrouped at Losar rest house and resumed the rescue operation on Tuesday. The rescue team successfully found all five stranded tourists by 2.30 pm at the Batal Rest House.   

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The tourists stated that their fortuner slipped from the road in heavy snow due to which they were stranded in the hostile weather for two days. They stated that on Sunday night two of them embarked on a foot journey to Chhadu to seek help from the locals, but they failed to find any help and returned to other friends. The group then broke into the locked rest house in the nearby location for shelter to spend the night fighting for their survival in the shivering cold.