The body or skeletal remains of four more victims of the 2013 Kedarnath flash flood disaster have now been recovered from the Kedarnath belt in Rudraprayag district in Uttarakhand after seven year of the disaster.

An intense search operation was conducted in the Kedarnath pilgrimage town and its adjoining areas afresh by joint teams of the Uttarakhand Police and the State Disaster Relief Force personnel. One of these teams found the body remains of four victims at Gauri Mai Kharak.

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With this the week-long operation came to an end. This special search operation was launched following an order passed by the Uttarakhand High Court in this regard earlier this year.

The body remains of the four pilgrims was brought to Sonprayag where DNA samples were collected and other official formalities were completed before the last rites of the victims was performed at the confluence of Mandakani and Sona rivers today.

Superintendent of Police (Rudraprayag) Navneet Singh Bhuller said, “The body remains were found by one of our teams while conducting a search from Gaumukhada to Gauri Mai Kharak patch.”

Ten search teams were deployed on different trek routes linked with Kedarnath. After a devastating flash flood hit Kedarnath on 16-17 June 2013, the pilgrims were left with little options but to run in various directions in their desperate attempts to save their lives.

The rescue work had then started late and the complex terrain of the belt had made the search operation difficult. Many stranded pilgrims lost their lives due to hypothermia and hunger among other factors.

This week-long fresh search operation was conducted along trek routes connecting Kedarnath via areas like Chorabari, Gomukhada, Toshi, Triyuginarayan, Garuda Chatti, Chaumasi, Basukital, Rambara, Jungle Chatti, etc. The body remains of four victims were found on the trek route along Triyuginarayan via Toshi.

Kedarnath was the epicentre of the 2013 flash flood disaster. Thousands of pilgrims lost their lives and went missing in this devastating calamity.

A total of 3,886 persons were reported to be missing. So far, altogether 703 dead bodies or skeletal remains of the victims have been recovered during various search operations conducted since 2013.