As the tribal district recently received the first snowfall of winter season which led to the death of three tourists at Barua Kanda top, the administration on Monday banned trekking and mountaineering activities in the district.

Kinnaur Deputy Commissioner Apoorv Devgan said a large number of trekking enthusiasts scale the treacherous mountain treks and peaks of the district which makes it a trekking and mountaineering hotspot.

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“It is also evident that during the onset and peak of the winter season, the climatic conditions tend to change very quickly, which pose great threat to the life of the trekkers.

Besides, conducting search and rescue missions in such conditions is very risky which makes it necessary to restrict the trekking and mountaineering activities in the season,” he added.

Devgan stated that trekking and mountaineering on all the treks has been banned in the entire territorial jurisdictions of the district till further orders and violators of these orders will be punished as per the provisions of Disaster Management Act.

It is worth mentioning here that three trekkers out of a group of 13 tourists died following heavy snowfall in Himachal Pradesh’s Kinnaur district after they got stranded at an altitude of 15,000 feet.

The trekkers who had started their trek from Rohru in Shimla district to Burua village in Kinnaur district on 17 October got stranded at Burua Kanda top due to snowfall in the region.

10 tourists had been rescued by the team of ITBP personnel and efforts to bring the bodies of deceased tourists from the high altitude area were on.