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'Nobody can be blamed for such tragedies'

"Given a chance, I would like to go for it again," said former prime minister I K Gujral's son Vishal, who had a narrow escape while returning from a pilgrimage to Kailash-Mansarovar barely a week ago.

Remorseful of Tuesday's tragedy in which more than 200 people, including 60 pilgrims to Kailash-Mansarovar, are feared killed, Vishal felt this would not be a dampner for future yatris .

"The conviction of those who undertake the Kailash-Mansarovar yatra is so strong that they are ready to face any eventuality," he said, "Nobody can be blamed for such tragedies."

"In my batch, there were a few pilgrims who were advised during medical tests not to undertake the arduous yatra. But they said they would rather die in Kailash-Mansarovar," he said.

Gujral's group, the eighth batch of pilgrims, had a narrow escape, while returning to the base camp of Dharchula, at a height of about 8000 feet. The weather suddenly turned hostile.

Describing the nerve-wracking experience, he said, "We were walking towards the camp which was about 15 kilometres away when suddenly rocks weighing one kg to 20 kg started falling, accompanied by a lot of dust."

The pilgrims panicked. One of them was hit by a rock and fell into a 50 metre-deep gorge. "He was fortunate not to have fallen into the Kali river which separates India and Nepal," Gujral said.

He was all praise for the arrangements made by the ministry of external affairs and the Kumaon Mandal Vikas Nigam: "We had wireless operators at the head and tail of every batch,"

Giving details of the tortuous trek, he said it takes about nine days to reach the Lipu Lekh pass, at over 19,000 feet from the base camp.

"Every day we used to climb about 4,000 to 5,,000 ft and descend about 2,000 to 3,000 ft," he said.

About 10 to 11 days are spent in Tibet. Three days are required to circumvent the Mansarovar lake and three days for the visit to Kailash. In all, about four weeks are needed for the journey.

Gujral's batch had 38 people. The oldest among them was 65, and the youngest 25.

UNI

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