Himachal: Bodies of missing trekkers found in Dhauladhar hills

Bodies of two trekkers, who had gone missing while trekking in the Dhauladhar mountain range, were recovered from under a hill on Monday, officials said.

Harsimranpreet Singh of Gurdwara Road, and Naveen Kumar of Dari, Dharamshala had gone for trekking on Monday last, Dharamsala SDM Shilpi Beakta said.

When their family members did not hear from them for a couple of days, they informed police, following which a search and rescue operation was launched to trace the trekkers, she said.

Superintendent of Police Khushal Chand Sharma said both the trekkers had left towards Thatharna, a small hill overlooking Dharamsala town, on November 29 and camped there for the night.

Some locals, who had met them, informed that they were planning to cross the 4,450-metre high Kundli Pass, he said.

The two had made the last call to a friend asking him for trekking directions towards Chamba, police said.

The officials said following the family's complaint, a search and rescue operation was launched to locate the two trekkers.

An Air Force helicopter was deployed in the operation. Besides, there was cooperation from police and the local public, they said.

The bodies were found under a hill on Monday, police said, adding their post-mortem will be conducted on Tuesday after which they will be handed over to family members for last rites.

It is suspected that the two died while slipping from a hill, the police said, adding further investigation is underway.

Pertinently, Kangra District Magistrate Nipun Jindal had in September banned trekking in all mountain passes above 3,000 metres under Section 34 of the Disaster Management Act, 2005 till further orders.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)