Forty bodies of flood victims were on Friday recovered from Haridwar, taking the toll in the rain fury beyond 200 as operations to rescue over 9,000 pilgrims stranded in Kedarnath and Badrinath were stepped up with the deployment of 40 helicopters. As the magnitude of the tragedy continued to unfold, Uttarakhand Principal Secretary Rakesh Sharma said casualty figures can be “shockingly high.” In New Delhi, Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said over 200 people have lost their lives while 50,000 people were still stranded in different inaccessible parts of Uttarakhand. “So far, 207 people lost their lives. But the toll may go up as debris in many areas is yet to be...
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