Two trekkers from West Bengal died while fourteen others including porters were stranded in Khanmigar glacier in tribal Lahaul Spiti district of Himachal Pradesh.
Lahaul Spiti deputy commissioner Neeraj Kumar said a six-member trekking team of Indian Mountaineering Foundation, West Bengal along with 11 porters and one Sherpa (local guide) had left for Khanmigar glacier on 15 September.
The trekkers had left via Batal to Kaza route to Khanmigar glacier that is located at an altitude of 5,030 metres but got stranded.
A porter along with the sherpa managed to return back from the glacier and they informed the district administration about the incident.
“A 32-member team has been constituted to rescue the stranded trekkers and porters but it might take two days time to reach the spot.
Earlier, the possibility of carrying out rescue operations with helicopter was also discussed but it isn’t feasible keeping in geographical and climatic conditions,” he added.
The deceased trekkers have been identified as Bhaskar Dev Mukhopadhyay and Sandeep Kumar Thakurta.
Debasheesh Bardhan, Ranadhir Roy, Tapas Kumar Das, Chitranjan Bardhwan and Atul along with porters are still stranded at the glacier.