Facing inclement weather over the past few days with heavy snowfall and poor visibility, the team got stuck on the Khamengar Glacier at an altitude of 6,000 metres.
Airlifting is not possible in such difficult terrain: DC
The plight of the trekkers came to light on Monday when two members of the group managed to reach the sub-divisional headquarters Kaza and informed the officials that their group was stuck on the glacier and two trekkers had died.
Lahaul-Spiti Deputy Commissioner Neeraj Kumar said that the administration had sought rescue by helicopter, but due to the difficult terrain, airlifting would not be possible. “A search and rescue team of 32 members including 16 personnel of Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), six Dogra Scouts of Army and 10 porters has been formed. The team also includes a military doctor. Team Pin Ghati of Spiti and will start the challenging climb on Tuesday morning,” he said.
The team will begin the climb from the village and is expected to camp at Chango Thango on Tuesday. It is likely to reach Dhar Thango the next day and Khamengar on Thursday. The return journey of the team will take two-three more days.
The DC said the trekkers are members of the Indian Mountaineering Foundation (IMF).
The deceased have been identified as Bhaskar Deb Mukherjee, 61, Barrackpore, Kolkata and Sandeep Kumar Thakurta, 48, Belgharia, West Bengal. The stranded trekkers include Debashish Vardhan, 58, Randhir Roy, 63, Tapas Kumar Das, 50, and Atul, 42, all residents of West Bengal.
Mukherjee was a retired bank employee. His brother-in-law Gautam Bhattacharya said, “He was addicted to trekking. We had repeatedly warned him not to go this time as he was suffering from lung disease. He also had pneumonia a few months back. But he ignored our warnings and joined the team. We came to know that after climbing down, he had severe shortness of breath and later died.
The family of Thakurta, a school teacher from Baruipur High School and a resident of Rifle Range Road near Jatidas Nagar in Belgharia, said they came to know about his death on Monday morning. His cousin Subir CR Roy said, “He suffered severe breathing problems and collapsed due to lack of oxygen at the altitude. We urge the state government to make immediate arrangements to bring back his body.”
Thakurta’s sister-in-law Kristi Biswas said that she was very fond of trekking, but she never thought that such a tragedy would happen this time.
.