Friday, January 9, 2015

Search for missing trekker called off

GANGTOK, 09 Jan: The 14-day hunt for the 23-year-old missing trekker, Biswadeeep Sarkar, a student from Kolkata who went missing from Bhakhim Forest along the Dzongri-Goechala trekking trail on 27 December has been called off. The 30-member search and rescue team deployed on 09 January returned to Yoksum this morning without any information on the missing youth. 
The search and rescue team included members from the Forest department, the West district administration, police personnel, locals from the area that included porters, guides and the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) team. Even after extensive combing operations in the area they could not find a single trace of the missing trekker.
The search and rescue operations for the missing trekker who was on a trekking expedition organized by a local travel agency (Red Panda) started as soon as some of the members of the trekking expedition realized that one of their students had gone missing on 27 December who was last seen moving towards Bakhim Forest during the wee hours of that day (27 December 2014).
Local police, West district administration, Forest department personnel, local guides and porters started the massive search on 01 January, four days after the student went missing. On 04 January, the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) joined in the search and rescue operations which it had stated could be the 'final push' to find the Kolkata student.
“The team has returned without any leads. The 30-member team was divided into four groups who conducted the combing search operations in all four directions but still they have not found any trace of the missing trekker,” stated the Assistant Officiating Commandant, 36 Battalion of the SSB, Manoj Kumar Singh who was the man in charge of the operations.
He also informed that even with a bigger deployment of jawans in the search party by the 36 Battalion and the officer who was stationed at the spot and who is in-charge of the entire territory in the border area along with personnel from the Forest, Police and locals of the area, the team returned empty handed.
[ANAND OBEROI]

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