BENGALURU, 7 JUNE

"If not for the inclement weather, they all would have survived and returned home safely," said S Srivatsa, Secretary of Karnataka Mountaineering Association (KMA), capturing the shock of veteran mountaineers over the death of nine experienced trekkers of their group in Uttarakhand. A 22-member trekking team from the association began a 35-km long trek from Uttarkashi on 29 May, but nine of them lost their lives in Uttarakhand due to extreme weather, while the 13 who survived were rescued in a coordinated operation by Uttarakhand and Karnataka governments.

"This tragedy happened only due to this fatal bad weather. They were all trained and experienced trekkers. It was not tough terrain also. The terrain was accessible to any common person. Because of this inclement weather, they were caught and went into hypothermia," Srivatsa said.

The group comprised physically fit, experienced trekkers in the age group of 34 to 71, he said.

When the incident took place, Srivatsa himself was at the Everest base camp in Nepal and rushed to Dehradun to help coordinate the rescue. "I know each one of them personally. They all are KMA members and I have trekked a lot with them in the past but during this trek, I was in Nepal," he said.

"Primarily, before going on an expedition, there are two or three mandatory local treks as a prep for physical fitness. Apart from that, we meet every Saturday. As soon as I got to know about the incident, I rushed to Dehradun. They were in complete shock, shattered and depressed. Some of them were sitting with the bodies for nearly 36 hours. It was depressing," he recalled.

"When I interacted with them, they (trekkers) shared how because of heavy wind, their windcheater, jackets and gloves were flying and visibility was zero. So, they took shelter next to a big boulder. But because of exhaustion, hypothermia and lack of sufficient oxygen, four of them collapsed. Five others collapsed later. They said they were unable to move, caught in a blizzard, and became exhausted. They were carrying food but could not eat because they were unable to open the tiffin boxes amid strong winds.

"Later, from the lower camp, a guide and other mountaineers sent two more tents with sleeping bags and a cook managed to give them some hot water. With that help, the (rest of them) survived. Otherwise, they would have also collapsed," he said. —PTI