“Helicopters and planes of private airlines and Nepal Army (NA) flew around 550 stranded tourists to Kathmandu today,” Chief District Officer (CDO) of Solukhumbu Yadav Subedi said. “There are still around 500 more stranded here in Lukla,” CDO Subedi added.[break]
Altogether 184 out of the 550 tourists rescued Saturday were brought to Kathmandu by NA. A rescue team was formed as per the request of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal and the directives of the Defense Ministry to bring tourists to Kathmandu charging them appropriate fares, a statement issued by the Directorate of Public Relations of Nepal Army said.
The team gave priority to sick, elderly and those tourists whose visas were expiring soon while bringing them to Kathmandu, the statement reads. The tourists were taken to Lamidanda from Lukla on choppers while planes and choppers were used to bring them to Kathmandu. “Eight of the rescued were Nepali nationals while the rest were foreigners,” the statement added.
The tourists were stranded after flights were cancelled since November 12 due to extremely foggy weather conditions. Altogether 231 were airlifted to Kathmandu on Friday after weather cleared up a bit.
(Photo Courtesy: Nepal Army)
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