BENGALURU: A day after the Uttrakhand state government shared information of the stranded trekkers in the Himalayan region from Karnataka, the state government has formed a special team and has appointed a nodal officer to bring them back.
Karnataka minister for disaster management Krishna Byre Gowda said all rescue efforts are continuing with the help of the Uttarakhand government, Indian Mountaineering Federation and home department of the government of India to bring back the trekkers.
In an official release on Wednesday the minister said, "the rescued trekkers are reaching Deharadun. We are also getting reports of loss of lives which we are trying to reconfirm with local authorities and private agencies. Four heli mobilise and three airforce helicopters are being pressed to the rescue operation."
According to information form the disaster management department, there are around 19 trekkers, all of them from Bengaluru, who had gone to Uttarakashi's Sahastra Tal Mayak stretch for trekking. We got the information from the Uttarakhand DEO and CEO last evening regarding the same and immediately started the work to rescue them. The trekkers had gone through a private agency, the minister added.
He added government orders have been issued to appoint Vipul Bansal, as nodal officer. He will be going to Deharadun to bring back the stranded.
The order, a copy of which is with The New Indian express, dated June 5, said, the trekkers had got stuck near Sahastra Tal Mayak due to bad weather. The district administration has launched a search operation through the forest department staff. As per preliminary information few are missing and Uttarakashi district administration intends to deploy a helicopter the next day if weather permits to evacuate the stuck people.