SDRF recovers bodies of 5 Bengal trekkers from Sunderdhunga
Uttarakhand state disaster response force (SDRF) rescue teams on Tuesday retrieved bodies of five missing trekkers from Sunderdhunga Valley in Bageshwar district, about 360 km southeast of Dehradun.
Bodies of all the deceased, who hail from West Bengal, were sent for post mortem examination in a district hospital. They were missing along with the local guide since October 18 after getting trapped in heavy snowfall during the extreme weather conditions across state from October 17-19. Their local guide is still missing in the valley and the search operation is on to find him.
“The five bodies were recovered on Tuesday afternoon from the snow by the rescue team which was searching for them in an operation started on October 21. They were then airlifted to nearby town of Kapkot in the evening and sent to hospital for post mortem examination,” said Vineet Kumar, Bageshwar district magistrate.
The five deceased were part of a 10 member trekking team who had gone missing amid heavy snow on October 18. Authorities were informed about the same by one of their local guides who managed to come down. The SDRF succeeded in rescuing four of them but couldn’t find the remaining six including the five dead and one missing local guide. Two high altitude rescue teams were then sent on October 21 to find the six.
Confirming that all of them hailed from West Bengal, he informed that they were identified as Sagar Dey, 27, Howrah district, Saritsekhar Das, 37, Howrah district, Chandrashekhar Das, 32, Howrah district, Pritam Roy, 27, Nadia district and Sadan Basak, 63, Kolkata.
Kumar said, “Post mortem examination of three of the five bodies is completed while that of two is remaining. Also, family members of three of the deceased had already reached Bageshwar. We have spoken to the resident commissioner of West Bengal government after which the bodies will be sent to Delhi in ambulance from where they would be then flown to Kolkata.”
The district magistrate informed also informed that they had “received photographs of the deceased people beforehand to help in ascertaining their identities.”
Lalita Negi, SDRF media in charge, said the two teams were involved in the search and rescue operation of the missing trekkers.
“One of the team which had reached the spot on foot had been searching the missing since last four days since October 21. While another team had left by a chopper on Monday which managed to spot them but couldn’t retrieve them due to inclement weather,” said Negi.
She added, “On Tuesday, when the weather improved, the bodies were airlifted and brought down.”
On Sunday, the rescue workers from Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) had recovered two bodies including one of a Kolkata trekker from Lamkhaga Pass near Harsil valley area of Uttarakashi district of Uttarakhand. They were part of 11 people who had gone missing in heavy snow on the trekking route to the Pass on October 19.
With the recovery of two bodies, seven of the 11 were confirmed dead while two have been rescued and as many are still missing near Lamkhaga Pass which is a 90km long trekking route passing through the remotest valleys of Kinnaur in Himachal Pradesh and Gangotri in Uttarkashi.
FIVE DECEASED WERE PART OF A 10MEMBER TREKKING TEAM WHO HAD GONE MISSING AMID HEAVY SNOW ON OCTOBER 18