Char Dham Yatra halted for second day as rain and snow strand 136 mountaineers

The Char Dham Yatra remained suspended for a second consecutive day on Tuesday as heavy rainfall continued to batter Uttarakhand, disrupting one of Hinduism's most revered pilgrimage circuits and prompting fresh safety concerns across the region.

Authorities said approximately 136 mountaineers, among them several foreign nationals, were stranded at various high-altitude locations after heavy snowfall cut off access routes in the mountainous areas. Efforts to reach those caught in the difficult conditions were under way.

The twin disruptions — to pilgrims on the sacred trail and to climbers in the peaks above — underscored the severity of the weather gripping the Himalayan state, with no immediate indication of when conditions would improve sufficiently to allow the yatra to resume.