Trekker from USA goes missing in Parbati valley

Our Correspondent

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KULLU, OCTOBER 3

A US national has allegedly gone missing while trekking in the Parbati valley of Kullu district.

Police said that Christopher Lee of France today informed the police that Shelter Justin Alexander (35) of the USA had gone for trekking in Parbati valley on August 22. There was no contact with him since then. The police said that Christopher was friend of Shelter on a social networking website and he was worried as Shelter had left alone for trekking towards Man Talai and Pin Pass.

Kullu SP Padam Chand confirmed that he had received information regarding the missing foreigner and police would conduct inquiry to trace his whereabouts.

This is not the first case of a trekker gone missing. More than 12 foreigners are reported missing in the Parbati Valley since 1998. Most of them were reportedly Israelis. Most of the unsolved cases were of the foreigners who had not registered themselves with the police before leaving for trekking alone.

Last year a Polish national Bruno Muschalik reportedly went missing on August 8 in the Parbati valley of this district. He has not been traced so far. Surprisingly, about 14 years ago, one Austrian national appeared after remaining missing for 12 years when the parents and the Austrian embassy in India had lost all hopes of his being alive.

The police stated that all the foreign nationals staying for over 180 days had to get themselves registered with the police while the owners of hotels or guest houses were to provide the requisite information about a foreigner staying at their premises to the local police station.

The police added that an advisory had been issued to various embassies regarding providing information to the police by their respective nationals before they venture on trekking expeditions. However, no strict norms were in place for trekking expeditions undertaken by foreigners.