Dehradun: A team of 74 members of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) has run out of food and medicines in Uttarakhand's Kedarnath after repeated attempts to airdrop supplies for them failed due to inclement weather, officials said.
The NDRF team, which is in Kedarnath valley after the mid-June flash floods and landslides, is left with just one day's ration and some of the members have taken ill in the past one day, official sources said.
The rescue team has not received supplies for the last five days owing to poor weather. Several attempts by the state government to airdrop supplies were aborted on Monday as inclement weather and continued rains grounded air traffic, added the sources.
KK Tamta, nodal officer of the health department stationed in Guptakashi, said that doctors with the NDRF team told him about outbreak of diseases. Of the 74 members, at least 40 were suffering from diarrhoea and gastroenteritis (inflammation of the stomach and intestines), he said.
"At Guptakashi, ration and medicines are awaiting to be airdropped to Kedarnath for the past two days," an official said.
"Two special planes full of ration, medicines and other material were not able to fly out Monday owing to poor visibility and bad weather," said Subhash Kumar, chief secretary of the hill state.
The weather can imperil the team's wellbeing, admitted an official, adding that a 15-member team of the army's Sikh Regiment has been sent from Rudraprayag to help the rescuers in Kedarnath valley.
A team of trained mountaineers will also be dispatched to the valley from the Kalimath-Ukimath side.
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