Rekong Peo (Kinnaur), June 28
Victims of the Sutlej fury Anne and her friend Isabella, had being waiting for 48 hours to be airlifted out of this place located 250 km from Shimla. Their wait ended this afternoon when the two women along with 15 other foreigners were “rescued” by helicopters.

Similar evacuations are being carried out in the Sangla valley and Pooh. Giving a relieved smile the two boarded the helicopter saying “ Happy to be going back but we were taken care off and hope to come back sometime.”

Unlike these two women everybody here does not have a happy story to tell. It may take upto four to five days for all the tourists to be airlifted out of this remote but picturesque Himalayan region to be dropped at Rampur or Shimla.

Ram Avtar, who works in the Delhi Police, and Dev Dutt from Najafgarh, New Delhi, may not find their way into the chopper till tomorrow. The dictum of rescue operations: “ women and children first” has to be followed.

However, in the present case foreigners have been given preference. Officials admitted that foreign tourists along with those critically ill were being given preference.

About 300 tourists are still “trapped” as these areas have been cut off from the rest of world after the Sutlej flooded the area washing away roads and bridges. Helicopters of the Indian Air Force and also the Himachal Pradesh Government carried out sorties today.

A Tribune team reached here on board a helicopter of the Himachal Pradesh Government

Another set of unlucky persons are those who drove in their own cars to these destinations to beat the summer heat . The cars cannot be driven out of these land locked valleys in the absence of roads.

Since it is estimated that the roads cannot be opened for three to four months the District Administration has asked the people to park their cars at the Ramlila ground here and Government guest house at Sangla. “We will provide round the clock security. Home guards have been posted,” claimed the Deputy Commissioner.

Mr Mandeep Singh from Ludhiana’ who has come here on a Mahindra Bolero with his family, said: “ Coming back to get my car will be a task in itself as it takes about 14 hours of driving from Ludhiana.”