Gaurikund landslide: Search operation continues, 20 still missing

Rudraprayag (Uttarakhand) [India], August 6 : The search and rescue operation for missing persons after a landslide at Gaurikund in Uttarakhand continued on Sunday, said authorities. Twenty people are still missing and three persons were killed in the landslide that occurred on Friday, according to officials.
"The search and rescue operation for the missing persons in the landslide near Gaurikund Datpulia on the Kedarnath Yatra route in the intervening night of August 3 and 4 is going on continuously," said an official statement of the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF). 
The search operation is being conducted by the members of SDRF, NDRF, DDRF, District Disaster Management Department, District Police, Water Police and Fire Brigade, said officials. 
Uttarakhand Director General of Police Ashok Kumar on Sunday said that three people were killed and 20 people are still missing in a landslide that occurred in Gaurikund.
While speaking to ANI, DGP Ashok Kumar said," Three people have died and 20 people are still missing in a massive landslide that occurred on the Kedarnath Yatra route in Gaurikund."
He further mentioned that a total of 17 people are of Nepali origin and are still missing after the landslide.
"17 of the missing people are of Nepali origin. A search operation by the police is underway," he said.
Earlier Nepal Foreign Minister NP Saud on Saturday requested the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand Pushkar Singh Dhami for speedy search and rescue of its citizens missing in a landslide in Gaurikund.
According to the Secretariat of Nepal, FM Saud made the request during a telephonic conversation with CM Dhami and urged for a speedy search and rescue of its nationals who went missing after they were swept away by a landslide that struck Gauri Kund town in Uttarakhand.
Officials said that the landslide occurred 16 km before Kedarnath.