WORLD
North India floods: Army leads rescue operations
Baku, June 19 (AZERTAC). Military helicopters are leading rescue operations in India's flood-hit northern states, where 130 people are now known to have died.
Some 18 helicopters have rescued 5,000 people in the worst-hit Uttarakhand state, an army official told the BBC.
Tens of thousands of pilgrims are stranded in Uttarakhand, where more than 100 people have been killed.
Flood-related deaths have also been reported in Himachal Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh states.
The monsoon season generally lasts from June to September, bringing rain which is critical to India's farming output, but this year the rain in the north of the country has been heavier than usual.
A military statement quoted by the AFP news agency said five airbases had been activated to help speed up rescue operations.
"Indian Air Force helicopters carried out missions to airlift men, equipment, relief material and medical aid," the statement said.
The situation in Uttarakhand was "really very bad", top disaster management official Piyush Rautela was quoted as telling AFP.
The floods have swept away buildings and triggered landslides in some places, blocking roads. More than 20 bridges have collapsed.
Portions of a Hindu temple in Kedarnath were washed away and the shrine was "submerged in mud and slush", Uttarakhand disaster relief minister Jaspal Arya said.
India's Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde said more than 62,000 pilgrims were stranded at various places. Most of the pilgrims - bound for local Himalayan shrines - are stranded in Rudraprayag, Chamoli and Uttarkashi districts after roads caved in and bridges collapsed.
Some of the pilgrims who are stranded in a guest house in Joshimath town spoke to the BBC Hindi's Shalini Joshi about their ordeal.