NEW DELHI, Sept 29: Four Russian trekkers and four Indian porters, stranded for more than a day in a mountainous north Indian state after heavy snow, have been rescued by helicopter, a district official said on Saturday.

The group was trapped by the snowfall as they tried to trek through the Gangotri glacier to the Hindu pilgrimage town of Badrinath in the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand.

“An Indian Air Force helicopter has rescued the Russian trekkers and their porters. They are safe,” Meenakshi Sundaram, the top administrator in Uttarkashi district from where the trek began, told Reuters by telephone.

A team of German and Indian trekkers was also due to take the same route but returned after the snowfall, he said.

Earlier rescue efforts were hampered as helicopters were snowed in and ground rescue teams could not reach the region.—Reuters