“I did not know that all of this had happened until Wednesday afternoon. I am not much of a social media person. So, I was unaware of the tragedy until my husband, who was in that trekking group, called me and told me about it,” said Suma M., wife of Madhu Kiran Reddy, who was among the 13 survivors of the Uttarakhand trekking tragedy.
Ms. Suma is also the second cousin of Chitra Praneeth, 48, who died on the Sahastra Tal trek earlier this week. “My husband and I have been trekking for 20 years now. We are well aware of the pros and cons of trekking, and we have learnt a lot from mountaineering. We have always respected nature and trekked in a responsible manner. We had not had an experience like this before,” she said.
While the governments of the two states were making all the efforts to bring back 13 survivors and the nine bodies of the group which suffered owing to bad weather conditions in Uttarakhand, their families and friends in Bengaluru were in deep shock. With the details of the arrivals of survivors and the bodies uncertain until Thursday evening, family members were highly anxious.
Physically healthy, but mentally shattered
According to family members, the group of 13 survivors were physically healthy, but mentally shattered after what was supposed to be an 11-day adventure trip ended in tragedy.
Chitra Praneeth, a resident of HSR Layout, has left behind her two daughters and husband. Her friends remember her with great fondness. “She was an excellent human being who was deeply concerned about the environment. She was always willing to volunteer for community causes and was also a passionate gardener. She was also trying to revive an old school in Electronics City. She had been going on treks for quite some time and went on one every year,” said B.N.S. Ratnakar, a friend of Ms. Praneeth.
Meanwhile, the Karnataka Mountaineering Association (KMA), which had organised the trek, issued a statement on Friday. While expressing their profound sadness about the tragic turn of events, they said, “This is the first tragedy in the 56-year history of KMA. Mountaineering is an adventurous sport and weather plays a major role. Sahastra Tal is not a major climb, but still weather played havoc and we human beings are no match to sudden changes in weather conditions.”
The 13 survivors reached Bengaluru on Thursday night, while the nine bodies are expected to reach by Friday.
