4 West Bengal mountaineers go missing in Kullu

Kullu, September 9

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Four professional mountaineers from West Bengal have gone missing while scaling Mt Ali Ratni Tibba (5,458m) near Malana village in the district.

HP restricts trekking in high-altitude tracks

The HP Govt on Friday restricted treks above 15,000 feet from September 15 in the wake of the incidents in Kinnaur and Kullu. A trekker died in Kinnaur earlier this month.

They have been identified as Abhijit Banik (43), Chinmoy Mondal (43), Dibash Das (37) and Binoy Das (31), State Disaster Management Department Director Sudesh Mokhta said. The climbers went missing on Wednesday.

The fifth member of the group, Ranjan Roy, and a cook, Lakpa Sherpa, returned to the Wachem base camp near Malana yesterday and informed officials about the missing trekkers.

Kullu SP Gurdev Chand Sharma said the group left early Wednesday and was scheduled to return the same day. Roy and Sherpa halted midway while the others went ahead. Kullu SDM Vikas Shukla said rescue teams had been deployed.