Fadnavis-Shinde duel on as 500 of over 2K tourists return; another lot to fly back today

As the number of people from Maharashtra stranded in Jammu and Kashmir has risen to over 2000, by Thursday evening, around 500 tourists returned home, confirmed the chief minister's office (CMO).

- HT Correspondents

MUMBAI: Another lot will be brought back home on special flights organised by the state government on Friday.

Pune-based Kailash Thorat, 74, who flew back on one of the special flights, said because of the landslide on Sunday followed by the terror attack on Tuesday, many like him had been stuck in the Valley. "We looked at all options to return - there were no train tickets available and flight tickets had soared to over 45,000 per person. We could not afford any of that and had to stay put. The special flights came as a ray of hope," he said upon landing in Mumbai on Thursday at 6:30pm.