Dharamshala: The Chief Judicial Magistrate of Pathankot along with 24 tourists were rescued from Sach Pass after they were stranded because of a sudden change in weather on this high altitude pass that connects Chamba valley with Tissa and Pangi on Tuesday/Wednesday.
Sudesh Mokhta, deputy commissioner of Chamba over phone disclosed that the stranded tourists were rescued on Thursday.
Mokhta said, “As many as 25 tourists, including a Chief Judicial Magistrate posted in Punjab’s Pathankot town, were rescued from Saach Pass. They were stuck there after road links to the area snapped due to inclement weather on Tuesday/Wednesday.” He said that two medical teams that reached the place from Pangi and Tissa provided first aid to the rescued tourists.
Sach Pass is a 4,420-metre-high (14,500 ft) mountain pass in Chamba District of Himachal Pradesh on the Pir Panjal Range of the Himalayas. It is 127 km from the District Headquarters Chamba and 260 kms from Dharamshala.
Saach Pass was reopened to motorists only last week after having remained closed for seven months due to snow. Generally the pass is open for motor traffic from June or early July to mid October. The road is narrow but is the shortest and toughest route from Chamba to the Killar (170 km). It is a newly constructed road route and passes through deep gorge terrain.
Other main routes are Chamba-Manali-Killar (680 km) and Chamba-Jammu-Doda-Gulabgarh-Killar (570 km), which are longer routes when compared to the Chamba-Sach Pass-Killar route.
Arvind Sharma is an award winning bi-lingual journalist with more than 20 years of experience.
He has worked with Divya Himachal, Dainik Jagran, Dainik Bhasker, Vir Partap, Ajit and PTI.
In 2010, he was conferred the Himachal Kesri journalism award. He reports on the Tibetan Government in Exile, politics, sports, tourism and other topics. He lives in Dharamshala.
The image shown here, is not of Sach Pass. It’s Killar Kishtwar road