KOLKATA: Four bodies of the five trekkers, who were part of the eight-member trekking group that had gone missing about one week ago on the Kedartal trek, were brought to their native villages in Bankura district in West Bengal on Sunday.
The four bodies, locked in wooden coffins, reached Salboni village in Bankura this morning. One of the five trekkers from the district is still missing. The family members of the missing person, Ratan Ghosh, are spending their days in sheer anxiety and tension.
The five mountaineers, Rintu Mandal, Tapas Bauri, Uday Ghosh, Ratan Ghosh and Manoj Khaoas, from Bankura had left for Uttarakhand a day before Lakshmi Puja for the Kedartal trek. The first four hail from Salboni village, while the last one is a resident of Keshra. They had planned to trek from Gangotri to Kedartal.
On 27 October, the five mountaineers from Bankura, along with other trekkers, had started for Kedartal from the base camp at Gangotri.
The Kedartal trek is a challenging, high-altitude expedition in the Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand. The eight-member team had gone missing on the night of 29 October owing to a sudden massive avalanche at an altitude of 4,000 metres on the Gangotri-Kedartal route.
The Uttarakhand Civil Aviation Development Authority carried out a search operation by helicopter. Seven bodies of the eight trekkers were recovered during the search operations. Four of the seven bodies were from Bankura district.
The bodies of Rintu Mandal and Uday Ghosh were brought down to the plains and were identified by their family members, who had travelled from Bankura.
The eight-member team also included two sisters from Lucknow, while a Sherpa guide was from Uttarkashi.
Today, the four bodies reached Kolkata airport and were then taken to their villages in Bankura by road. The Bankura district administration, including District Magistrate Anish Dasgupta, paid tribute to them.
Family members of the deceased burst into tears over their sudden demise.
“Rintu was scheduled to come back home a day before Kali Puja. He came back home today – on Kali Puja day, not alive but locked in a wooden coffin,” Sintu Mandal, his elder brother, said with tearful eyes.
The bodies of Rintu and Uday were airlifted by helicopter from Kedartal to Matli, about 100 km away, around 11.50 am on Wednesday. They were then taken in hearse vans to the district hospital in Uttarkashi, about 10 km away.
A group of family members of the missing trekkers from Bankura, led by Sintu, arrived in Uttarkashi on Wednesday afternoon. Sintu identified his brother’s body first.
“We could identify Uday’s body. We don’t know how we will inform our families. They are all anxious,” he said.