Hundreds of people died when a massive deluge struck Uttarakhand on June 16-17.
Eight highly decomposed bodies were recovered from the debris at Kedarnath over four months after areas close to the Himalayan shrine bore the brunt of the mid June disaster.
Eight more bodies, most of them in a highly decomposed condition, were recovered yesterday during cleaning of debris from structures standing close to the shrine, Rudraprayag SP Baridnerjit Singh Mann told PTI today.
With this, the total number of bodies recovered and cremated in Rudraprayag district has touched 541, he said.
The bodies were found under the rubble of hotels and lodges that were being cleaned by their owners, the official said.
With the passage of more than four months after the tragedy, the bodies were in a highly decomposed state with only two of the eight skeletal remains being intact, the SP said.
The bodies have been cremated with necessary formalities like DNA sampling and vedic rituals, he said.
The cleaning of debris from structures close to Kedarnath shrine will continue for the next few days and the possibility of more bodies being found cannot be ruled out, Mann said.
Hundreds of people, most of them pilgrims, died and thousands had gone missing when a massive deluge struck Uttarakhand on June 16-17.