Chandigarh, September 30
The Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) on Thursday recovered the bodies of two trekkers of West Bengal who had lost their lives in Kaza area of Lahaul and Spiti in Himachal Pradaesh earlier this week.
Personnel of ITBP’s 17th Battalion carried the bodies on stretchers for 27 kilometres on foot in treacherous terrain at an altitude of around 18,000 feet.
The bodies, along with four porters who were also evacuated, are being handed over to the civil administration in Kaza, an ITBP spokesperson said.
A team of six trekkers from Arete Mountaineering Club, Kolkata, along with one guide and 11 porters, were stranded at Khemenger Glacier in Pin Valley of the tribal district.
Two members, identified as Bhaskardeb Mukhopadhyay (61) and Sandeep Kumar Thakurata (38), died due to extreme weather conditions.
Yesterday, the ITBP had rescued 11 persons from the team, including four trekkers and seven porters, and taken them to the Kaza hospital for observation.
One trekker and a porter showed mild symptoms of frostbite.
They had been brought down from Dhar Thango to Ka village by ITBP and further taken to Kaza and handed over to the civil administration.
A joint team of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police, Army and civil administration had been launched from Kaza for the rescue mission towards the higher reaches of Manali-Khamengar Pass in Lahaul-Spiti district of Himachal Pradesh.
