The body of another victim was retrieved from Uttarakhand's Haridwar district, 150 km away from the spot where a bus fell into Alaknanda river near Gholtir village in Rudraprayag, officials said on Sunday, 29 June.
The death toll in the incident has now increased to six.
The victim was identified as Lalit Kumar Soni (48), a resident of Pratap Chowk Gogunda, Rajasthan.
A 31-seater bus taking pilgrims from Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh to Badrinath fell into the Alaknanda river near Gholtir between Rudraprayag and Gauchar. Five bodies had been found till Saturday, officials here said.
Six pilgrims are still missing. Search and rescue operations are underway, they added.
A cloudburst in Uttarakhand's Uttarkashi district early on Sunday left two construction workers dead and seven missing as monsoon covered the entire country almost a week earlier than usual, bringing rain in the national capital and other northern states, triggering landslides in several hilly areas and sending rivers into spate.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued a red alert for heavy rainfall on 29 and 30 June in various districts of Uttarakhand, including Uttarkashi, Rudraprayag, Dehradun, Tehri, Pauri, Haridwar and Nainital. Authorities have put the Chardham yatra on hold for a day for the safety of pilgrims.
The Shimla Meteorological Centre has also issued a red alert for very heavy downpour in 10 districts of Himachal Pradesh, where the death toll from rain-related incidents climbed to 20 since the onset of monsoon in the state on 20 June.
In Uttarakhand, a landslide triggered by a cloudburst destroyed the shelters of workers engaged in the construction of a hotel along the Yamunotri National Highway in Uttarkashi district, officials said.
There were 29 labourers at the campsite when the landslide occurred washing away around 10 metres of the highway. Twenty of them were evacuated to safety while nine went missing, the district emergency operation centre said.
