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The survivors of the Uttarakhand trek tragedy returned to Bengaluru last evening. Karnataka Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda on Thursday met the Uttarakhand Chief Secretary to arrange for an aircraft to transport the nine bodies from Dehradun to Bengaluru. The dead bodies have been brought to Bengaluru from Delhi by various flights today and have been handed over to their relatives for final rites, Minister Gowda informed. The Minister also appreciated this rescue operation as one of the rarest rescue operations to be executed in history since the Air Force hopper was hovering around 15,600 feet above sea level.On May 5th, 22 trekkers were stuck in a snowstorm in the Garhwal mountain range of Shastra Tal-Mayali Stretch on the Himalayan foothills. The trekking group consisted of people in the age group of 30 to 72, who were all experienced trekkers. Out of 22, nine trekkers from Karnataka died owing to extreme weather conditions there. 13 trekkers were rescued. Trekkers and organizers say that the sheer play of fate resulted in such extreme weather conditions. No such incidents have been reported in the recent past. According to the Indian Mountaineering Foundation (IMF) experts and Himalayan Trek organizers weather changes can be witnessed in the Sahastra Tal Trek but sudden changes during the pre-monsoon season were unusual as it happened in this case and this tragedy happened. The bad weather was unexpected and similarly, whiteout situations rarely happen. S.Srivatsa, Secretary of Karnataka Mountaineering Association which organised the Sahastra Tal trek Uttarakhand in an interview said, “We have never seen this sort of bad weather in the past few decades. It was extremely windy and there was heavy snowfall. The trekkers had hypothermia and dehydration as their body temperatures dropped. All measures were taken but ineffective.”According to the survivors, “Three hours after they walked from the summit around 2pm Monday, there was heavy snowfall that continued till 8pm. Three feet of snow was accumulating. The trekkers had taken shelter by a big rock, and the lack of visibility made them stay there the night. By morning, four, in a sitting position, had collapsed and died due to cold. One of the deceased Chitra started walking with the remaining trekkers around 8 am but after walking barely 200m she collapsed and died. There was an emergency makeshift camp just a 45-minute walk away. They checked her pulse, did emergency CPR. She couldn't survive.” According to Chitra’s husband, she was a fitness enthusiast and had done the much more difficult Kilimanjaro trek at 19,800ft in the past without oxygen. However, what happened on this trek was unforeseen even for locals.71-year-old hardcore trekker Asha Sudhakar was one of the deceased who was the oldest woman mountaineer from Karnataka. She gained recognition for participating in the first women’s expedition to Mrigthuni Peak (22400 ft.) in Nanda Devi region in 1964.Passionate about the environmental cause, a couple, 51-year-old Sujata, an engineer and a trustee of NGO Uttara Karnataka Sneha Loka (UKSL), and her husband 54-year-old Vinayak from the same profession, a mechanical engineer also died in the tragedy.

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