In brief
An eight‑person trekking party disappeared six days ago in Uttarakhand's Kedartal valley after an avalanche hit the area amid heavy snowfall. Rescue teams from the State Disaster Response Force and the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering were air‑lifted and began a search on Monday, but the operation was called off due to rough weather and is scheduled to resume the following day. The national agency reports that 3 porters and one cook were rescued three days prior, and that the missing group comprises seven trekkers and a guide, with the trekkers all from West Bengal.
Eight trekkers and their guide are still missing after an avalanche struck the Kedartal area of Uttarakhand on October 29, leaving local officials and rescue teams scrambling amid harsh weather.
The group left for a three‑day trek on October 27 and was last in contact with their trekking agency on the 29th, when they requested help as the storm intensified. A local government official confirmed on Tuesday that the party has not been found; it includes seven trekkers and one guide, and the trek was monitored by the authorities before it began.
According to Xinhua, an avalanche triggered by heavy snowfall struck the Kedartal valley in the late hours of the 29th. Although the avalanche covered the valley, the last audio note from the trekkers indicated that they had been safe at that time, but their radio signal stopped shortly afterwards.
The State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering formed a 10‑member Mountain Rescue Team that was air‑lifted to the valley on Monday. The team included six SDRF personnel and four from the mountaineering institute, and it began extensive search operations early that day. However, the harsh winter weather quickly escalated, and the operation was called off by evening.
"The search and rescue work was called off amid rough weather,"
as reported by the official in the Xinhua release. The rescues authority said that the team would suspend efforts until conditions improved and that a new search would commence the following day.
Earlier, India Today reported that eight people, including seven trekkers and a local guide, had been missing on the Kedartal trek after they became stranded amid heavy snowfall. The article noted that rescue teams were working to locate the party but had not yet reached them.
According to the Times of India, the missing trekkers have been identified as Tapas Bauri, Ratan Ghosh, Manoj Khovas, Rintu Mandal and Uday Ghosh, all from West Bengal. The guide was named Deepika Verma, and a woman named Vartika was also listed among those unaccounted for. These details came from the trekking agency’s records and the local authorities.
Meanwhile, three porters and one cook were rescued three days prior to the report, a recovery that suggests that the party was split earlier and that part of the group had survived the initial avalanche. The rescued staff were taken to a hospital in Dehradun and were reported to be in stable condition after field treatment for frostbite.
The vacancy of the entire group remains a concern for families and local communities. The chief of the Uttarakhand rescue services has stated that the search will intensify once the weather improves, and that helicopters will be dispatched to cover wider areas. However, the unconfirmed reports of broken crevasse lines and unstable ice in the valley raise questions about the viability of a rapid expedition.
Local media have highlighted the risk of undertaking treks in late October, when winter conditions can intensify quickly. Officials say that trekkers were fully briefed and equipped, yet the suddenness of the avalanche and the weather challenges made rescue operations extremely difficult. The public has called for a review of safety protocols for trekking camps in Uttarakhand’s high‑altitude regions in the wake of the incident.
As the search resumes, authorities will rely on advanced GPS tracking and drone reconnaissance to locate any survivors. Family members of the missing trekkers remain hopeful that the team will locate them before the sky conditions worsen, and the national government is coordinating with international mountaineering bodies for expertise and equipment.
Until the rescue teams can reach the Kedartal valley again, the fate of the remaining eight remains uncertain, and the local authorities are calling on anyone with information to come forward to aid search and rescue efforts.