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8 trekkers among 14 missing after heavy snowfall in Uttarkashi

ByVipin Negi and Kalyan Das
Oct 20, 2021 11:52 PM IST

Of the 11 missing from the Chitkul via Harsil trekking route, eight are trekkers while three are porters

Dehradun: Fourteen people, including eight trekkers from West Bengal and Delhi, were reported missing in two separate incidents amid heavy snowfall in Uttarakhand’s Uttarkashi district, officials said on Wednesday.

On October 14, a team of 17 people left for a trek to Chitkul via Harsil in Uttarkashi district. They were supposed to reach Chitkul on October 19, but 11 of them went missing on October 18 (HT FILE)
On October 14, a team of 17 people left for a trek to Chitkul via Harsil in Uttarkashi district. They were supposed to reach Chitkul on October 19, but 11 of them went missing on October 18 (HT FILE)

In the first incident, on October 14, a team of 17 people left for a trek to Chitkul via Harsil in Uttarkashi district. They were supposed to reach Chitkul on October 19, but 11 of them went missing on October 18. “The team had gone for trekking near Lamkhaga Pass which is a 90km long trekking route passing through the remotest valleys of Kinnaur in Himachal Pradesh and Gangotri in Uttarkashi. However, on Monday, due to snowfall in the area, 11 went missing. Six of them, all porters, managed to go to the ITBP camp in Chitkul village in Kinnaur and inform them about the incident on Tuesday,” said Jai Panwar, consultant to Uttarkashi district on disaster management.

“Of the 11 missing from the trekking route, eight are trekkers while three are porters. Seven of the eight trekkers hailed from West Bengal while one is from Delhi. The three porters were local,” he added.

In the second incident, three porters went missing on October 17 when they were accompanying ITBP personnel to their posts near the Indo-China border in Uttarkashi.

“The ITBP officers, who informed the SDRF to seek help in finding them, said that the local porters had left for the border with ITBP men on October 15. However, on October 17, they got separated from the ITBP men due to heavy snowfall and went missing. The ITBP informed the district administration on the same on Tuesday evening after which on Wednesday, a chopper of the air force left with the SDRF personnel to search the missing people,” said Panwar, adding that a team of ITBP personnel had also left from their base in Neelapani.

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