A group of 60 pilgrims from the State who were stranded in Nepal after the earthquake safely returned to India on Monday.
The team, which left for India from Kathmandu on Sunday on two buses, crossed the Indo-Nepal border check-point at Raxaul around 9 a.m. on Monday and reached Vysali in Bihar in the evening.
The route
“We will be leaving for Patna next day and board a train from Gorakhpur after two days to reach Kochi on May 2,” K.R. Krishnan, leader of the group, told The Hindu over the phone.
The team left for Kathmandu from Varanasi by bus on April 23 and reached the Nepal capital on April 24 midnight for visiting the Pasupathinath temple.
Members of the group were outside the temple when the quake struck the nation.
Except for a woman member, who broke a leg, the group escaped unscathed.
Next day morning, they went to the Kathmandu airport to catch a flight operated by the Government of India. “However, at least 5,000 Indians were seen waiting there, prompting us to return to Bihar by road. Further, no official representing the Indian embassy was present there to coordinate the return of Indian nationals stranded there,” said Babu Vipin Chandran, another group member.
