Seven trekkers found dead in Uttarakhand; search on for remaining

Uttarkashi: Two more members of an 11-strong trekking team that had gone missing have been found dead taking the death toll to seven, while a search was underway for the remaining two, officials said here on Friday.

Two members of the team had been rescued alive on Thursday. They are injured and being treated in Harsil and Uttarkashi, an official said.

They had gone missing on a trek to Chitkul in Himachal Pradesh via Harsil in Uttarkashi.

Search and rescue teams from Uttarkashi spotted five bodies of trekkers on Thursday, while two members of the team were found dead by a rescue team in Himachal Pradesh, Uttarkashi district disaster management officer Devendra Patwal said.

A search is on for the two missing members of the team on a war footing with the help of a helicopter, Colonel Rajendra Prasad of 9 Bihar Regiment said.

The team consisted of eight trekkers — one from Delhi and the rest from West Bengal — and three cooks went missing on a trek to Chitkul recently.

They had begun the trek from Harsil in Uttarkashi district on October 11 and were to reach Chitkul via Lamkhaga pass.

Members of the trekking team included Anita Rawat (38) from Delhi, Mithun Dari (31) from West Bengal, Tanmay Tiwari (30), Vikash Makal (33), Saurav Ghosh (34), Saviayan Das (28), Richard Mandal (30) and Suken Manjhi (43), all from Kolkata. The cooking staff has been identified as Devendra (37), Gyan Chandra (33), and Upendra (32) all from Purola in Uttarkashi.