An 18-year-old Sikh devotee from Punjab died on Sunday after slipping into a deep ditch on a footpath near Hemkund Sahib Gurudwara in Chamoli district of Uttarakhand, police said. The man, identified as Gurpreet Singh of Kale village in Amritsar district, was visiting Hemkund Sahib with a 90-member group, they said. Police said Singh left the main footpath leading to the Gurudwara and took an old, damaged trail that has been closed due to safety concerns. He slipped and fell into a 100-metre-deep ditch. Upon receiving information, police, State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) personnel and other agencies reached the spot, carried out a rescue operation and retrieved the body, they added.
