1 trekking team member killed, 8 rescued in Uttarakhand

One member of a stranded trekking team, comprising senior officials of the Indian Oil, Delhi government and CPWD, has been found dead on the snowbound Panpatia trail between Badrinath and Kedarnath while eight others have been rescued, officials said today.
Two members of the 11-member trekking team had reached Madmaheshwar on September 26 itself from where they had sought the help of the police.
The team got stranded while on a trekking expedition from Badrinath to Kedarnath, Rudraprayag District Magistrate Mangesh Ghildiyal said.
A joint team of police, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and state disaster management personnel brought those rescued to Madmaheshwar.

Ghildiyal said one of the trekkers stranded in Panpatiya has died but the other eight trekkers safely reached Madmaheshwar with the help of the rescue team dispatched by the district administration.
The team of stranded trekkers included officials of the Indian Oil, the Delhi government, Central Public Works Department (CPWD) and the porters who went with them, he said.

The team of trekkers included five porters, he added.
Ghildiyal said the trekkers, who had already begun thier descent from Panpatia, met the joint rescue team and were brought down safely.
The two IAF choppers sent to rescue them in the morning could not sight them due to the thick cover of trees.

However, the IAF choppers spotted the body of the dead trekker lying on snow and it will be brought down at the earliest, Ghildiyal said.
The Rudraprayag district administration had been trying to rescue the trekkers with the help of the IAF.