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Student dies in heavy snow in Uttarakhand’s Uttarkashi, six others rescued
The seven students were walking home Friday evening when they were trapped in heavy snowfall.
In a tragic incident one student died after being trapped in heavy snow while six others were rescued by the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) late Friday night in Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand, officials said.
The seven students aged 18-21, studying in an Industrial Training Institute (ITI) centre near Badkot town of Uttarkashi, were walking to their homes when they got stuck in heavy snowfall.
Praveen Alok, spokesperson, SDRF said, they received an emergency call from one of the students on Friday evening at 5pm. A team of SDRF men then soon left on a rescue mission for the spot about 25 km from their centre in Badkot.
“The team finally reached the spot late night at around 10.30 pm on foot braving heavy snow. After reaching there, they found one student, Anuj Semwal, 18, in an unconscious state. His friends said that he was not well due to the severe cold,” said Alok.
The rescue team then soon attended him and other stranded students, and brought them to the hospital in Badkot at 2.30 am. “There the doctors declared Semwal dead on arrival. The other six students were discharged after primary treatment,” said Alok.
Alok said that prima facie it seems that Semwal died of ‘hypothermia.’
“All the students including the deceased hail from Uttarkashi district,” he added.
Uttarakhand’s hill districts including Uttarkashi, Chamoli and Nainital received heavy snowfall in past few days throwing the local people’s life out of gear as the snow blocked road connectivity to many villages. In the hilly areas, many areas are also suffering from power outage although the government constantly working to restore it.
