While on a plant exhibition, Steve Hootman, the executive director of the Federal Way-based Rhododendron Species Botanical Garden, found himself involved in a landslide that left 1,200 tourists stranded in India on Saturday.

None of the 18 “rhododendron enthusiasts” on the tour were hurt.

Program and outreach manager Katie Swickard said the garden was recently notified of the news by Chip Muller, the immediate past president of the Rhododendron Species Foundation, who is also on the exhibition.

“[Hootman] goes out on exhibitions to discover new species to document where particular species occur in the wild,” Swickard said. “There’s a subsequent trip later this year to China.”

She said the plant explorers left on May 12 and are expected to return June 6.

The landslide blocked three switchbacks in the main road of north Sikkim, a state in India near the Himalayan Mountains, Muller wrote. The exhibition group was one of the last sets of vehicles to make it through the beginning of the slide.

“After spending two full days of exploration of the Lachung and Yumthang areas of north Sikkim, the group returned to the slide area in six vehicles, which they had to leave north of the slide,” Muller reported.

Muller stated the group’s tour agent, Sailesh Pradhand, hired porters and a bus to help get them out of the area.

To get to transportation, the group first had to carry packs down a footpath that winded its way around the landslide. Local police and Army personnel guided them through the slide zone as they watched for falling rocks.

Once they were safe, the group hiked to Chungthang and met a bus that took them to Gangtok, where they arrived at on Tuesday.

Rhododendron Species Botanical Garden President Mike Stewart of Sand, Oregon and Vice President Sean Rafferty of British Columbia also joined Hootman and Muller.

The group has recorded about 20 different species of rhododendron in the area, including a newly discovered species, and reached 14,000 feet in elevation with Himalayan peaks well over 20,000 feet surrounding them.

According to Swickard, this isn’t the first time Hootman has found himself in dangerous situations.

One year as he was collecting species to bring back — the garden has a permit — he slid off a boulder and poked himself in the eye. Swickard said he had to travel back alone to get proper medical attention and was in danger of losing his eye.

The group will continue their tour, sponsored by the Rhododendron Species Foundation, in Sandakphu and Darjeeling, West Bengal, India during the next two weeks.