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Journalism of Courage
One of Karnataka’s oldest women trekkers, a member of the Karnataka Mountaineering Association (KMA) for over three decades, was among nine persons who died after their trekking expedition to Sahastra Tal in Uttarakhand was hit by a blizzard Tuesday afternoon.
While 71-year-old Asha Sudhakar died, her husband S Sudhakar, also 71, survived the blizzard.
Usha Ramaiah, one of Karnataka’s first women mountaineers, said of Asha, “She was a part of my expedition to Kalanag. She has undergone training. We have to wait for the details.”
The 83-year-old, who is the founder of the KMA, said that while the trekkers on the expedition to Sahastra Tal were part of the association, the trek was not organised by it, but by “a local agency in Uttarakhand”.
“We have to find out what happened. If there is a sudden fog or whiteout situation, you cannot see even at a one-foot distance. It seems the women were together with two men who were accompanying them. It is very unfortunate. It is not a very tough peak — it’s only around 14,400 feet. People even go without training to this peak,” Ramaiah said, adding that Asha was physically active and trekked frequently.
Asha is a grandmother, and her son lives in the United States.
Madhu Kiran Reddy (52), who was among the survivors, said the trek was going as planned until the blizzard started and lasted more than four hours.
The survivors said they encountered the blizzard at around 12,000 feet while returning from Lambtal to Sahastra Tal peak.
“We could not see even one foot ahead of us,” Reddy said, adding that two people died on Monday night in front of the others. Two others died by Tuesday morning, and five more the next day.
On Wednesday, two Chetak helicopters of the Indian Air Force and a private chopper were deployed to rescue the stranded trekkers. The State Disaster Response Force also dispatched two teams — one each from Dehradun and Uttarkashi.
Others from who died in the trekking tragedy are Sindhu Wakelam (44), Sujata Mungurwadi (52) and her husband Vinayak Mungurwadi (52), Chitra Praneeth (48), Venkatesh Prasad (53), Padmanabha (50), Anitha Rangappa (55), and Padmini (34). All of them were residents of Bengaluru.
Sujata and Vinayak Mungurwadi were engineers from BV Bhoomaraddi Engineering College in Hubballi, and were founding members of an NGO called Uttara Kannada Sneha Loka. They are survived by a daughter and a son.
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has ordered a magisterial inquiry into the incident. According to a state government statement, Dhami closely monitored the rescue operation to locate and rescue the trekkers.
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