Himachal Pradesh: 46-year-old trekker remains missing in Kinnaur's Wangtu; search op underway

Earlier in the day, a body found in Nichar tehsil of Kinnaur was thought to be of the missing trekker, Satyanarayan Venkatachhari.

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New Delhi: A 46-year-old trekker, who went missing from Himachal Pradesh's Kinnaur last month, has not been found yet. A team of four Indo-Tibetan Border Police personnel and two police personnel are conducting a search operation.

Sathyanaryan Venkatachari, a solo trekker from Bengaluru, Karnataka, had gone missing in Kinnaur district of Himachal Pradesh nearly a month ago. His last known location was in Wangtu on July 25. 

Earlier in the day, it was reported that Venkatachari's body was recovered by the ITBP personnel as they found a body in Nichar tehsil of the district and thought it to be of the missing trekker. However, the body was later ascertained to be of someone's else.

Venkatachari's family had filed an online missing person report with the Kinnaur Police on August 24 after he did not return home for over a month since he last went missing. 

A PTI report said that missing trekker’s wife Anuradha and family friend Kishor Reddy approached Kinnaur on Sunday and met Superintendent of Police (SP) Sakshi Verma before filing the missing person report.  Besides seeking help from police, the trekker's family and friends had also sought help from local trekkers and travel agents in tracking Venkatachari,

They had also approached the Indo-Tibet Border Police (ITBP), which has a large base in the tribal district and was recently involved in the rescue of 22 trekkers, for help.

Venkatachari used to work at a Bengaluru office of a US-based multinational company Texas Instruments. He had set out on a 5,500-metre high trek at Gunsarang, connecting Ropa valley in Kinnaur with Mane village in Spiti district. He was then supposed to meet his friend and trekker Vikram Malik in Manali on August 2 and undertake a trek to Pangi in Chamba. He called Malik last on the same day when he called his wife and after that went incommunicado, said the report.