Grief-stricken family members could hardly hold back tears at the Kolkata airport, as bodies of five trekkers from West Bengal, who died in inclement weather in Uttarakhand, were brought back to the city on Monday.
Some cried inconsolably, while many others couldn’t muster the courage to look at the coffins, which contained the lifeless bodies of their near and dear ones.
Shubhayun Das, Richard Mondal, Tanumoy Tiwari, Bikash Makal and Sourav Ghosh had begun the expedition from Harsil in Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand on October 11 and were to reach Chitkul via the Lamkhaga Pass.
They, however, reportedly went missing after heavy rain battered the northern state for nearly three days, beginning Sunday night, with the Kumaon division bearing the brunt of it.
The trekkers' bodies, which were taken to their homes in Nepalganj and Baruipur in South 24 Parganas from the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport after identification, had been spotted by rescue teams on October 22.
The cumulative death toll in rain-related incidents in Uttarakhand mounted to 77 on Sunday evening.
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