Himachal Pradesh: 50 hours after they went missing in Kullu, all trekkers safe, six evacuated

All eight trekkers, who went missing in Kullu district of Himachal Pradesh on Friday, have been located.

Pic courtesy: ANI

Manali: Eight engineering students, who went missing in Kullu district of Himachal Pradesh more than fifty hours ago while on a trekking trip, have been located near Chandrakhani Pass area in the valley during an aerial survey, a police official said on Sunday.

Six of the eight trekkers were rescued today evening while two others are safe inside a cave, as per Zee Media.

Speaking to news agency ANI, Kullu Deputy Commissioner Hans Raj Chauhan said that the missing trekkers have been found during an aerial survey in the area. The eight engineering students went missing in bad weather in Parvati Valley near Chandrakhani Pass in Kullu district more than fifty hours ago while on a trekking trip.

“6 of 8 trekkers who went missing, have been airlifted from Chandrakhani & shifted to Rumsu village near Kullu. Rest 2 also located,” he said.

Pictures of trekkers who have been airlifted from Chandrakhani to Rumsu village near #Kullu pic.twitter.com/BNNcfUcgmV

— ANI (@ANI_news) March 13, 2016

Meanwhile, Kullu Depy Comm said, "6 trekkers have been safely airlifted, will be brought to Kullu, other 2 have also been located & are safe but could not be rescued due to bad weather." 

Pictures of trekkers who were airlifted from Chandrakhani to Rumsu village near #Kullu, brought to Kullu Govt hosp. pic.twitter.com/CFfsn8GmuY

— ANI (@ANI_news) March 13, 2016

"Once weather gets clear, rest of the other 2 will also be airlifted. All 8 trekkers safe," he added.

According to media reports, rescue efforts had started after the missing trekkers were seen during an aerial survey of the area.

The seven students -- from Punjab's Sant Longonwal Institute of Engineering and Technology -- and their trekking instructor had got lost during bad weather near the Chandrakhani pass area on Friday. No contract could be established with them for three days.

Three teams of ITBP were pressed into rescue work after teams from a local mountaineering institute and the police failed due to the weather. A helicopter was pressed into service yesterday, but failed to make much headway due to the weather.

All the students are final year classmates from the Sangrur-based institute. Two of them are from Himachal Pradesh, two from Uttar Pradesh, and three from Punjab.

The students were identified as Hitendra Sharma from Theog, Chetan Chori and Saurav Sharma from Ambala, Ankush Kumar from Gurdaspur, Rohit Kumar from Bhagpat district in Uttar Pradesh, Anil Kumar from Hamirpur, Akshay Kumar Bura from Chamba and Bharat Prakash from Kullu district.

Dozens of trekkers have gone missing or have died in the valley in last two decades. In August last year, Polish national Bruno Muschalik had lost his way and there was no trace of him ever since.