By Shishir Prashant 
PrashantNews
After traffic snarl ups in Mussoorie and other towns, a series of road accidents and landslides mainly due to heavy monsoon rains in the hills have caused havoc in Uttarakhand in the past few days amid the peak Chardham yatra season.
The monsoon arrived in the hill state barely six days ago.
Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has appealed to pilgrims to take utmost care during their pilgrimage in the fragile mountains where road accidents are common.
At least 12 people were feared killed when a mini bus carrying Badrinath-bound pilgrims plunged into the swollen Alaknanda river in Rudraprayag district on Thursday morning. While three bodies were recovered, the search is on for the 9 missing pilgrims who believed to have been inside the bus which swept away in the fast currents of the river. Eight people including the driver were also injured in the accident. A total of 20 people were travelling in the bus.
In a separate accident at Chakrata area of Dehradun district, three persons were killed when a Fronx car fell into deep khud on Thursday.
In yet another accident in Chamoli district, two bodies were recovered at Malari area. It was not yet clear when the car accident occurred as the two persons were missing during the past few days.
Four members of a family including a four-day old infant were killed and three injured when a car fell into a canal at Haldwani area in Nainital district on Wednesday, police said. The family was returning home to nearby Kitchha town after the delivery at a Haldwani hospital.
Heavy rains have also triggered landslides at several areas in the hill state blocking dozens of roads. Nearly 1269 pilgrims were rescued by the Uttarakhand police near Sonprayag area after landslides disrupted the Kedarnath yatra road.
Traffic snarl-ups are also occurring at Mussoorie, Haridwar, Dehradun, and many other places in Uttarakhand causing great inconvenience to tourists and locals alike. The situation becomes worse during the office hours in most of the places especially during the weekends.
Meanwhile, the helicopter services to the Chardham pilgrimage centres would remain suspended till September 15 following a series of helicopter mishaps and heavy monsoon rains.