KATHMANDU: At least 10 Indians were killed while attempting to undertake the pilgrimage to the Mount Kailash in Tibet and the nearby Mansarovar lake,
venerated by Hindus, Buddhists and Jains alike.
The deaths occurred due to high-altitude sickness as most of the pilgrims were above 60 years and came from cities in plains like Bangalore, Chennai and Lucknow, tourist agencies in Kathmandu said.
Only one of them has been identified as Damodar Das Agarwal from Varanasi. His body was flown to India Sunday while some others have been cremated in Tibet.
Over 100 Indian pilgrims were stranded in Taklakot near the Nepal-Tibet border as services of the domestic airlines operating flights to Simikot in north Nepal's Humla district had been affected due to an agitation by local people.
On Tuesday, the plight of hundreds of pilgrims on the Kailash-Mansarovar yatra was brought to the notice of the Indian government by the Bharatiya Janata Party, whose MPs Sushma Swaraj and Balbir Punj said the government should undertake rescue measures in consultation with authorities in Nepal and China.
The Indian embassy in Kathmandu said it had no information.