Two city hikers go missing in Sikkim

Two mountaineers from Mumbai went missing after an avalanche hit them during their expedition to Mount Tinchen Khang (6010 m) in Sikkim, reports HT Correspondent.

Two mountaineers from Mumbai went missing after an avalanche hit them during their expedition to Mount Tinchen Khang (6010 m) in Sikkim.

HT Image

The two were part of a group of five hikers.

Mangesh Deshpande, Anju Panickulam, Sadasivan Sekar, Shantanu Pandit and Parag Pendharkar were on their way back after conquering the summit when the avalanche struck on October 19.

The mountaineers were members of Mulund-based Chakram Hikers.

Kiran Deshmukh of Chakram Hikers said: “We have not been able to establish direct contact with the team members.”

“The local administration informed us that two members were missing but we are in no position to confirm their identity yet,” he added. The youngest hiker is 26 years old.

The expedition to Mount Tinchen Khang is considered as a medium level expedition on the difficulty scale and all the five mountaineers had substantial experience.

The military helicopter deployed for the rescue has not been able to land due to bad weather since the past two days.

“A rescue team has also been dispatched from here and weather permitting the military helicopters would again try to land near the base camp tomorrow,” Deshmukh added.