Seven of 11 trekkers who went missing after avalanche on Harsil-Chitkul route found dead, two rescued

Two more members of an 11-strong trekking team from West Bengal, which had gone missing in an avalanche on the Harsil-Chitkul trek route between Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh, have been found dead taking the death toll to seven.

According to a report by News18, two trekkers of the group remain missing and two have been rescued, officials said on Friday. The injured are being treated in Harsil and Uttarkashi, Uttarakhand DGP Ashok Kumar said.

The rescue teams found the bodies of seven trekkers at an altitude of 5,000 metres.

While speaking to the media, Uttarakhand DGP Ashok Kumar confirmed that the bodies of seven trekkers have been recovered, while two have been rescued and two others remain missing. These are from a group of 11 trekkers who had gone missing Harsil.

Meanwhile, five more bodies of trekkers from another group of 11 trekkers, which went missing near Lamkhaga Pass, were also recovered, said the DGP, reported TimesNow.

One of the trekkers who has been rescued includes 32-year-old Mithun Dari from Bengal. Dari is currently undergoing treatment at the Harsil Army Hospital. He reportedly told his family members that he saw the snowstorm sweeping over others and lost touch with them afterwards, reported News18.

Also read: How Uttarakhand rain fury left a trail of death and despair: An eyewitness account

Family members of the trekkers urged the West Bengal government to provide details of their whereabouts and end the agonising wait of the kin.

The daughter of Sadhan Kumar Basak, one of the five members of the trekking team, told reporters she cannot bear the anxiety any more. “My father had last talked to us over the phone three days back. The local administration is not yet confirming the worst, but we have been getting varying reports. I am requesting with folded hands to both chief ministers (West Bengal and Uttarakhand) to trace and bring him back to inform even if it’s the bad news. I just want to see his face,” the young woman, struggling to hold back her tears, said to PTI.

Apart from Basak, who hails from Thakurpukur in the city, three others from Bagnan in Howrah — Chandrasekhar Das, Saritsekhar Das, Sagar Dey — and one from Ranaghat were part of the team. Ranaghat resident Pritam Roy (27), a student of MBBS fourth year of Murshidabad Medical College, was an intrepid member of the team having left for the expedition on 10 October, and his family got the message on Thursday night that there is no news about him, reported PTI.

“I don’t know if my son is dead or alive, but I want to see him. He can’t be trapped in the snowy caves forever,” his father Pramit Roy said.

Torrential rain battered Uttarakhand for nearly three days, beginning Sunday night, with the Kumaon division bearing the brunt of it.

With inputs from agencies