Hundreds stranded on Leh-Manali road, Karmapa rescued by IAF

Srinagar, Sep 23 (UNI) The second highest Buddhist spiritual leader Gyalwang Karmapa was rescued by the Indian Air Force (IAF) after he got stranded along with hundreds of other passengers on 475-km-long Leh-Manali road due to heavy snowfall.

Karmapa, second Buddhist spiritual leader after the Dalai Lama, left Leh by road for Manali yesterday morning along with hundreds of other passengers.

However, all vehicles got stranded due to heavy snowfall.

Official sources said the district administration sought the help of IAF to rescue the Karmapa, who was on a ten-day visit to Leh, where he addressed a number of religious meetings and visited gompas and other places.

The IAF traced the Karmapa at Sarchkay and also rescued his sister and Secretary.

However, other passengers remained stranded on the highway at different places.

Two IAF helicopters dropped ration and other essentials for the stranded passengers, the sources added.

Chief Executive Councilor (CEC) Tesring Dorjay, Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC), told UNI that efforts were on to rescue all the stranded passengers.

He said besides essentials, the IAF dropped medicines and blankets for the passengers.

He said a truck of ITBP carrying blankets and essential commodities also left Leh for Sarchkay, where maximum numer of passengers were stranded.

The entire belt received heavy snowfall during the past 24 hours.

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