Rudraprayag (Uttarakhand): The body of a West Bengal tourist, who died after falling ill in a snowstorm was on Wednesday retrieved by a team of SDRF and DDRF officials assisted by Indian Air Force near Mahapanth, about 10 km from Kedarnath Dham in Uttarakhand.
The body of Alok Biswas, 34, from Saguna was retrieved by the joint team Wednesday morning and was brought to Chardham helipad from where the body was sent to the district hospital for postmortem, said Disaster Management Officer Nandan Singh Rajwar.
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Biswas's health had deteriorated at Mahapanth when he along with nine other tourists were trekking to Kedarnath Dham along Ransi-Manana-Kedarnath trekking route on October 8. Eight members of the team reached Kedarnath and informed the District Disaster Management Department about snowbound Biswas and another tourist accompanying him.
On October 9, the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) rescue team immediately rushed to the spot with the necessary rescue equipment. A search operation was conducted on the said track by the rescue team. Both tourists were found amidst the icy rocks near Mahapanth, 6 km from Kedarnath while conducting extensive searches on foot in the high-altitude area in extreme conditions.
One of the two tourists had died while the other was in poor health. After giving first aid to the sick person by the SDRF team personnel, he was immediately rescued and admitted to the hospital after reaching Kedarnath. Due to continuous snowfall in the Himalayan region, the team were not able to retrieve the body at that time.
