Trekkers lost their lives in blizzard
PrashantNews
All the nine bodies of trekkers have been airlifted from the high-altitude Sahastratal mountainous region in Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand to Dehradun.
While five bodies were brought on Wednesday, four others were airlifted to Dehradun by Air Force helicopters on Thursday morning, SDRF Commandant Manikant Mishra said on Thursday.
The state government swung into action and pressed Air Force and private helicopters for a tough rescue operation in the high terrains of the Garhwal Himalayas. Through the combined efforts of the Air Force, SDRF, ITBP and Forest Department, 11 trekkers were rescued on Thursday while two others including a guide reached the base camp.
Due to the high altitude and undulating terrain, the rescue was conducted by two light weight IAF Cheetah helicopters from the higher ground to the base camp.
The trekkers, who lost their lives, have been identified as Sindhu Vakekalam, Asha Sudhakar, Sujatha Mungurwadi, Vinayak Mungurwadi, Chitra Praneeth, Venkatesh Prasad, Padmanadha Kundapur, Anita Rangappa and Padmini Hegde. Most of the trekkers were from south Bangalore in Karnataka. There were at least 10 women trekkers in the expedition.
“A team of 22 trekkers including 18 from Karnataka went to the high Himalayan region of Sahastratal in Uttarkashi district where they lost their way in bad weather on June 3. In the bad weather which could be blizzard, nine trekkers lost their lives. Others were safe,” Mishra said.
Two high altitude rescue teams of the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) flew from Dehradun in a helicopter on Wednesday morning for Sahastratal in search of the trapped trekkers, Mishra said.
The Air Force helicopters which were also pressed into service made a daring rescue operation on the Malla-Silla-Kushkalyan-Sahastratal track located at an altitude of 4100–4400 meters.
According to the SDRF, a 22-member trekking team was sent by Himalayan View Trekking Agency, Maneri on May 29 on a 35 km long trek from Uttarkashi, which included 18 trekkers from Karnataka and one from Maharashtra and three local guides. This trekking team was to return by June 7.