DEHRADUN: Rescue teams have recovered four bodies from the Kedar Tal trekking route in Uttarkashi, while the search continues for other missing trekkers and support staff. Three bodies were airlifted to the Matli helipad, officials said.
Tehsildar Bhatwari said two of the three people brought to Matli had been identified as sisters Vartika Verma, 28, and Deepika, 29, residents of Gayatri Puram in Lucknow's Vikas Nagar. The identity of the third person was yet to be established.
The fourth body has also been located and is being retrieved, officials said. The authorities have not specified how many people remain missing.
"Three bodies recovered during the search were brought to the Matli helipad by helicopter. One more body has been found and is being retrieved," said Arpan Yaduvanshi, Commandant of the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF).
"Teams from the SDRF, the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering, the Forest Department and other agencies are jointly searching the Kedar Tal area for those still missing," he said.
The 13-member group, comprising seven trekkers and six support staff, set out from Gangotri for the Kedar Tal trek on October 27. It failed to return at the scheduled time after bad weather, heavy snowfall and glacier conditions blocked the route, according to officials.
The administration coordinated a search operation involving the SDRF, the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering (NIM), the Forest Department and the trekking agency after receiving information that the group was overdue.
Disaster Secretary Vinod Kumar Suman said the SDRF was continuing its operation to locate the missing trekkers and support staff. Rescue teams are working in difficult terrain, with adverse weather and snow hampering access, officials said.
Yaduvanshi said SDRF teams were coordinating with other agencies despite challenging geographical conditions. Personnel were continuing the search despite the adverse weather and heavy snowfall, he added.
The operation has involved locating the group, recovering those found and bringing the bodies down from the remote trekking route. The three bodies airlifted to Matli were subsequently taken to the district hospital, according to the SDRF.
Authorities have not provided further details about the identity of the third person or the number and whereabouts of those who remain unaccounted for. The search operation is continuing in the Kedar Tal area, officials said.