School in Himachal Pradesh prays for safety of their students stuck in Hurricane Sandy in US

Shimla: Shimla's Auckland House School is praying for the safety of its ten students stuck in Hurricane Sandy in the United States.The school administration says that the students, along with a teacher had gone on a science program to National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and they are stuck in New Jersey.

Superstorm Sandy has left at least 50 people dead in eight states including 23 in New York. More than 6 million homes and businesses are without power with about two-thirds of them in New York and New Jersey.

Meanwhile, the school's principal, Anita John, said the school administration and the parents of the girls are constantly in touch with them and praying for their safe return.

"We are very concerned for their safety and because of our concern, all of us in the Auckland House School as a family have been praying for their safety. We have had prayers in the school for their safety and we want them all to be well. We know that they are well, but we do not want them to panic because their flights have been delayed," he said.

The students were supposed to return on October 28, however, their flight was cancelled.

"We know that the girls of our school are stuck in the hurricane and we have been praying for them. They were supposed to return on the 28th but because of the natural calamity, they could not. So, we are praying for them, we know that they are safe right now we are a bit relieved. But for now we are praying so that they come safe with the teacher to the school," said Aashima, a student.

Millions of people awoke to scenes of destruction wrought by Sandy after the powerful storm smashed into the eastern United States on Monday (October 29), destroying buildings, flooding streets, and cutting power to parts of the nation's most densely populated regions.

Some people were hit by trees, others died in flooding, from electrical shocks or in car crashes linked to the storm.

Sandy killed more than 65 people in the Caribbean last week before pounding US coastal areas.

More than 8.1 million homes and businesses on the East Coast of the United States were without power on Tuesday after the storm tore down power lines, flooded networks, and sparked an explosion at a power station on Manhattan's East River. That compares to 8.4 million outages at the peak of Hurricane Irene last year.

The outages spread from New Jersey, which was hardest hit, to 19 other states from North Carolina to as far inland as Indiana. Power companies estimate parts of New York City could be without power for more than a week.