Rescuers aid pilgrims in Himalayas

SRINAGAR, India Army helicopters swept into the Himalayas andrescued hundreds of pilgrims stranded last week by torrential rainsand a snowstorm that reportedly killed 160 of their companions.

For two days, rescue teams used helicopters and trucks toevacuate tens of thousands of people, bringing them down to the townof Pahalgam, the starting point of the trek. By Monday, rescueworkers said almost all the pilgrims were safe.

Sixty thousand pilgrims were in Pahalgam, from where they hadbegun their arduous three-day trek to a 13,500-foot-high cavehonoring Lord Shiva, the Hindu god of destruction.

Rescuers planned to move them to safer areas where there …