Seventeen pilgrims who were stranded for over 15 hours near the Kapildhara waterfall on Gandhamardhan hills in Odisha’s Bargarh district, were rescued on Thursday after a night-long operation by a 40-member team.

Of the group, 13 hail from Chhattisgarh’s Raigada district and four from Odisha’s Jharsuguda district.

Forest officials said the group, including four women, had arrived in Bargarh on Wednesday to visit the shrines of Nrusinghanath and Harishankar. “After the darshan of the Nrusinghanath temple in Bargarh, they left for Harishankar peetha in neighbouring Bolangir district on foot. But rain lashed the area and evening descended, and they lost their way,” Hrudananda Mishra, forest range officer of Nrusinghanath (Bargarh), told The Telegraph.

The forest stretch between the two shrines, about 17km apart, forms a popular but rugged pilgrimage trail across the Gandhamardhan hills, drawing devotees especially during the holy month of Shravan.

“One of the tourists managed to contact us via the 112 helpline around 7.30pm on Wednesday. Although they could not share their exact location, we immediately formed a rescue team comprising District Voluntary Force (DVF), police, fire and forest officials. The operation was tough and had to be halted midway due to lightning and heavy rain,” Mishra said.

Bargarh divisional forest officer Bikramdev Pattanayak told this newspaper that the operation resumed around 3am on Thursday and the team located the stranded pilgrims on a forested plateau at around 11am. “They were finally brought to the Nrusinghanath Nature Camp by 4pm, nearly 20 hours after the distress call. All received first aid and food before leaving,” Pattanayak said.