State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) Commandant Manikant Mishra told TNIE that a rescue team was immediately dispatched to the scene after receiving reports of a bridge collapse near Chidwasa on Thursday night.
On Friday morning, the rescue team successfully evacuated 38 stranded pilgrims, including 27 Kanwar yatris, five female employees of the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, and eight local residents, after a six-hour continuous rescue operation.
The rescued individuals were safely brought to Uttarkashi, said Commandant Mishra, who praised the team's efforts in battling the fierce water currents to establish a temporary ropes-based system to rescue the stranded pilgrims.