INEWS21 Dehradun Nov 1, 2026
Rescuers have not been able to locate whereabouts of eight of the 12 trekkers trapped in the snow and avalanche on Kedartal trek in Gangotri Glacier zone for past two days. Four staff members of the missing trekkers group were found by on October 31 but they could not move beyond Gangotri for more than 24 hours as the track was blocked by snowfall and avalanche forcing the administration to call off helicopter recce and Search and Rescue (SAR) operation on Sunday.
Rescue teams of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) along with local police failed to succeed in tracking the location of missing nine trekkers on Kedartal Trek of Gangotri National Park (GNP) in glacier zone above 10,000 feet in the Himalayas. Information shared by State Emergency Operation Centre (SEOC) has that only four members of the stranded trekking group, one cook and three porters, could be located successfully near Kachhi Dhang area on the trek and were rescued by the special SAR team. They were moved to Gangotri but the snowfall and avalanched have blocked their movement beyond that. Remaining eight persons including seven trekkers and one guide remained untraceable despite all efforts by the rescuers for the past two days. Even Intensive search and aerial recce conducted with the help of two Uttarakhand Civil Aviation Development Authority (UCADA) helicopters failed to help the cause of SAR operation so far.
An Action Taken Report (ATR) released by SEOC on Sunday night stated that SAR team with help of an SDRF member conducted intensive recce of the site the twice with the help of UCADA helicopter on Sunday as well but no trace of either trekkers or their belongings was found. SEOC report read that helicopter recce was aborted midway on Sunday due to bad weather in the region and it will be resumed once the weather was clear.
ATR of SEOC claimed that SAR work will resume on Monday morning as a five member High Altitude Rescue Team (HART) of SDRF and another four member team of Nehru Institute of Mountaineering (NIM) will be dropped to launch fresh hunt for the stranded trekkers on Kedartal Trek. Besides this search campaign for the missing trekkers will also resumed on the ground by the SAR teams.
SEOC report further informed that NDRF has dispatched a Mountain Rescue Team (MRT) and a group of medical experts along with four members of ‘Seeker Trekking Agency’, host of the trekkers group at Kedartal, for the incident site to look for the missing trekkers. However they too were facing difficulties in moving ahead to search the stranded trekkers, said the ATR. Apart from this a five-member group of NIM exerts were also sent to Harsil.
ATR further informed that a group of 12 persons including seven trekkers, one guide, three porters and one cook had left from Gangotri base camp for the Kedartal trek on October 27. As per agency’s schedule they were to return on October 29 but bad weather, glaciers and snowfall blocked the route forcing the trekkers trapped midway.
