SHIMLA:All 300 tourists stranded in the hills overlooking the tourist resort of Manali due to heavy snow have been rescued, a Himachal Pradesh official said Thursday.
"All the tourists were rescued from Gulaba and Marhi and were brought to Manali. They were struck there due to snowfall on Wednesday evening," sub-divisional magistrate Balbir Thakur told.
He said over 200 tourists, stranded between Gulaba and Marhi, were rescued by 8 p.m. Wednesday while the rest were rescued late in the night.
However, some 35 vehicles are still stranded in Gulaba, 20 km from Manali, as heavy snowfall snapped road links, he said.
The tourists were mainly from Punjab, Haryana, Delhi and West Bengal.
Manali and its nearby hills have been experiencing snowfall since Wednesday evening. The Met office here said Manali saw more than six inches of snow in the past 24 hours.
A government spokesperson here advised tourists not to venture into remote areas during winter as chances of snow were high in the next few days.
"The weather in Kinnaur, Lahaul and Spiti, Kullu and Chamba district is quite harsh. A sudden drop in the temperature, even in summer, can trigger winter-like conditions," he said.
