Punjab Newsline, Dehradun, June 5-
Four people were killed after a 22-member trekking team, which had gone trekking to Sahastra Tal in Uttarakhand's Uttarkashi, lost their way due to bad weather and got trapped along the route. Thirteen of them were rescued and the bodies of four trekkers were found in Uttarkashi.
Uttarkashi District Magistrate Meharban Singh Bisht said that the trekking team comprising 18 members from Karnataka, one from Maharashtra and three guides from Uttarkashi had gone on a trekking expedition to Sahastra Tal on May 29 and were to return on June 7.
While returning from Sahastra Tal, 20 people got stuck at Kufri top due to the bad weather. while 13 people got stuck at the Kufri top. Among the 13 people, four of them died.
A trekking agency, Himalayan View Tracking Agency, Maneri, which took the trekkers to the Sahastra Tal, informed authorities about four people who were feared killed and requested the evacuation of 13 trapped members. All the trekkers were registered by the district administration.
Bisht requested the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) to send rescue teams to the spot and rescue the trekkers. He also ordered to send local-level rescue teams to the site as well. The SDRF has reached out to 10 more people from the trekkers' group.
He said Sahastra Tal is located at an altitude of about 4,100-4,400 metres and that the incident site is located in the border area of ​​Uttarkashi and Tehri districts. "For the quick rescue of the trekking team, we have set rescue teams to Uttarkashi and Ghansali Tehri sides," he added.
Sahastra Tal is a group of seven lakes on a peak and it is believed that Pandavas had left for heaven from this place.
The District Magistrate wrote to the Joint Secretary of the Central Defence Department for air rescue and the SDRF commandant for ground rescue assistance.
He also said the trekking agency had informed authorities to send people from Silla village to the spot to assist rescue teams. A request was also made to send teams of police and the forest department from the Tehri district to the spot. Rescue teams that were dispatched were facing delays in reaching the spot due to the inclement weather.
The Tehri district administration sent teams to rescue the trekkers trapped at Sahastra Tal. Talks were on to involve the Indian Air Force in the rescue operation.