KANPUR: They witnessed unprecedented destruction taking place in front of their eyes. They saw the dance of death and destruction and returned back safely to the city on Thursday night.

A 13-member group from the city arrived back home safely from Uttarakhand on Thursday night, bringing joy and happiness to their anxious family members.

Beenu Shukla, a resident of Baradevi Paschim Dwar, said: "Including the driver and attendant, there were three families in the 13-members group, we were all worried about each other. We had to face so many hurdles. We were taking refuge at a hotel, suddenly there was an anouncement by Army jawans that those who are stranded would accompany them. We left the place in our vehicle and started following the ITBP personnel. A moment came, where again we were asked to wait as nearly 25-km stretch of road was washed away. The armymen had to struggle for nearly six hours to evacuate us. We then reached Haridwar and from there arrived here by around 2am."

Meanwhile, Kachiyana Mohal, a small locality of Hoolaganj area was in the state of panic as many persons are still stranded in Uttarakhand. They had left for pilgrimage on June 10 and have been reported missing from Haridwar.

Unable to contact them so far, many relatives had left for Dehradun and Haridwar to look for them. From June 15, the families do not know the whereabouts of the missing pilgrims and seeking information from officials about their lost relatives. They say helpline numbers provided by the television channels and government were not responding.Among the missing ones are Balkishan Gupta, a fruit vendor and his friend Raja Ram Sahu and latter's wife. "My father left on June 10 and till June 15 he was in constant touch with us but from that day there is no clue of his whereabouts. Our family is sitting in front of the television and with every passing moment, they are becoming restless," Balkishan's son Shrawan Kumar Gupta said.

Source: The Times of India, DT. June 22, 2013.