The tragic incident in Uttarakhand that claimed the lives of 9 trekkers, including 6 women and 3 men. A trekking team of 22 individuals, 18 of whom were from Bengaluru, went missing while trekking in Uttarakhand. After two days of intensive search efforts, 13 trekkers were rescued, but unfortunately, the remaining 9, including the experienced trekker Asha Sudhakar from Karnataka, did not survive. Asha’s husband, S Sudhakar, was among the fortunate survivors.
The president of the Karnataka Mountaineering Association (KMA) stated that all the trekkers were well-trained, with Asha being the most experienced among them. The mountain’s height was around 15,000 feet but the group had prior experience of trekking even higher altitudes. The president mentioned that trekking at this height is achievable even for untrained trekkers. Furthermore, the president noted that a local group from Uttarakhand had initiated the Sahastra Tal expedition near the Uttarkashi and Tehri border, which was not organized by the KMA. The KMA is currently investigating the incident to determine the root cause.
According to the local administration, the group of 22 trekkers, consisting of 18 from Karnataka, 1 from Maharashtra, and 3 local guides, embarked on the Sahastra Tal trek on May 29th. Arpan Yaduvanshi, the SSP of Uttarkashi, revealed that the group was scheduled to return on June 7th, but they went missing after reaching the 15,000 feet mark. Meharban Singh Bisht, the DM of Uttarkashi, explained that adverse weather conditions trapped the team in Kurfi on Tuesday afternoon. Upon receiving the distress call, the disaster management center of Uttarkashi and Tehri mobilized a rescue operation. The rescue teams, including one from the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering, and two helicopters, along with the Airforce, were deployed to locate the missing trekkers. The search and rescue efforts commenced on Tuesday but were impeded by challenging weather conditions and the remote location in the mountains. 13 were rescued after two days but the report of the death of 5 came on Wednesday. And on Thursday came the report of the death of the remaining 4.
