Massive avalanche hits Gandhi Sarovar near Kedarnath Dham; no casualty

Rudraprayag: A massive avalanche hit the Gandhi Sarovar located four kilometres above the Kedarnath Dham here early Sunday morning but there was no loss of life or property, a district official said. Devotees who went to the temple this morning captured the avalanche, which occurred around 5 am near the Chorabari glacier, on their mobile phones.

The temple currently has a significant presence of devotees as the Char Dham Yatra, to Yamunotri, Gangotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath shrines in Uttarakhand, is underway.

A huge cloud of snow was seen sliding down the mountain with speed and stopped after falling into a deep ravine. The avalanche occurred in the upper region of the Gandhi Sarovar in Chorabari glacier, below the snow-covered Meru-Sumeru mountain range located at the upper end of the Kedarnath valley.

Rudraprayag District Disaster Management Officer Nandan Singh Rajwar said there was no loss of life or property due to the avalanche.

The entire area, including the Kedarnath valley, is safe, Rajwar said.

Gopal Singh Rauthan, an employee of Garhwal Mandal Development Corporation, was present in the temple when the avalanche occurred.

He said that there was a lot of curiosity among the devotees who witnessed this natural phenomenon for about five minutes. Another avalanche occurred in the Chorabari glacier on June 8.

In 2022, three avalanches hit the area in the months of September and October. Five such incidents of avalanches were reported in the Chorabari glacier in May and June 2023. Following this, scientists from the Indian Institute of Remote Sensing and the Wadia Institute took stock of the entire situation by conducting terrestrial and aerial surveys of the area.

The team of scientists had then described these incidents as "normal" in the Himalayan region, but they had emphasised on improving security in the Kedarnath Dham area.