An Army personnel with the rescued tourists.

AjayBanerjee

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 19

The Indian Army has rescued 127 tourists trapped in a snow blizzard across the Sela pass near Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh.A massive blizzard struck yesterday around 2.45 pm between Sela and Tawang in West Kameng district of Arunachal Pradesh.

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After reports of tourists and transients stuck in the blizzard were received, the Army swung into action and a rescue operation was launched within less than an hour. With darkness setting in by 5 pm, the entire operation was conducted in the dark and continued till all 127 tourists, including five foreign nationals from Japan, New Zealand and Bulgaria, were rescued, spokesperson of the Army’s Kolkata-based Eastern Command, Wing Commander SS Birdi said on Sunday.A Bulgarian woman slipped and fell down the steep gorge while she was trying to move on her own and died. Her body was recovered around midnight.The rescued persons were accommodated at Army transit camps and provided with medical assistance and comforts. The road had about 2-3 feet of snow and was opened for traffic today by the Border Roads Organisation. All vehicles were recovered and the tourists left for their respective destinations.