Five dead as 22-member trekking group lost way in Uttarakhand

Five persons were killed after a 22-member group, which had gone for trekking to Sahastra Tal in Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand, lost its way due to bad weather. The Indian Air Force (IAF) has been deployed to rescue the surviving members of the expedition group among which 13 were rescued till late Wednesday evening (June 5.)

District Magistrate (DM), Uttarkashi, Meharban Singh Bisht said the trekking group was from Karnataka and it had three guides from Uttarkashi’s trekking agency, Himalayan View Tracking. They started their expedition to Sahastra Tal on May 29 and were supposed to return to the district on June 7.

The agency had sent information about the trekkers getting lost in their way back on June 4. Teams of State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and local police were rushed for rescue. Sahastra Tal, located at an altitude of about 4,100-4,400 metres, is a group of seven lakes on a mountain peak.