By Shishir Prashant 
PrashantNews
A pilgrim from Aligarh in Uttar Pradesh went missing after being swept away in the Mandakini river in Kedarnath area in Rudraprayag district of Uttarakhand but five other companions were rescued safely.
According to information received from the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), the incident occurred on Tuesday evening when six pilgrims from Aligarh, who were trekking on the old Rambada area tried to cross Mandakini at Lincholi but got stuck in the middle of the river. However, one of the pilgrims identified as Rahul (22) was swept away in the fast currents.
On receiving the information, an SDRF team reached the spot and rescued the pilgrims trapped in the river safely.
Soon, a search operation was also launched for the missing youth. However, due to darkness and strong current of the river, he could not be traced. The deceased has been identified as 22-year-old Rahul.
The rescued youths said that after visiting Baba Kedarnath, they wanted to take a shortcut from Garudchatti to Rambada on their way back. These rescued youths include Vishnu Singh (20), Kunal (17), Shivabhav Sharma (21), Mahesh Chaudhary (19) and Shivabhav Paliwal (20).