CHANDIGARH: A 42-year-old motorcyclist from Hyderabad has been missing for 12 days after meeting with an accident near Sumdo Mod 3 on the remote Darcha-Shinku La road in Himachal Pradesh’s Lahaul-Spiti district. Search operations are continuing.
Anil Marla, an experienced rider, was travelling on his Royal Enfield Himalayan from Padum in Ladakh’s Zanskar Valley towards Lahaul Valley when he reportedly lost control of his motorcycle on July 19 and plunged into a deep mountain gorge.
Officials said rescue teams recovered the damaged motorcycle, his helmet, mobile phone and travel bag from a mountain stream and nearby area, but Anil remains untraceable. It is suspected that the strong current swept him downstream into the Bhaga river, which joins the Chandra river at Tandi to form the Chenab.
Teams from the Himachal Pradesh Police, State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), volunteers and local residents have been searching deep gorges, streams and riverbanks. Drones have also been deployed to scan inaccessible stretches of the valley.
His wife, Sumita Sharma, has been camping in Lahaul since the accident and has refused to leave until every effort is made to trace him. After losing contact with her husband on July 19, she alerted police in Keylong and Padum and was later informed that he had met with an accident near Darcha.
The family has appealed to the administrations and police of Lahaul-Spiti, Kullu and Mandi in Himachal Pradesh, as well as Kishtwar, Doda and Ramban districts of Jammu and Kashmir, besides shepherds, trekkers, tourists and hydroelectric project workers, to remain alert for any clues.