NIT Hamirpur students missing: Body of student found near Shikari Devi temple after 40-member team, army chopper conducted search
The body of one of the two National Institute of Technology, Hamirpur students, who went missing, was found near Shikari Devi temple on Friday after a 40-member team and an Army chopper was pressed into service to search for the students. Another two friends of the students had also gone missing.
North India is currently in the grip of extremely cold weather conditions with snowfall in many states.
A 40-member rescue team left for Shikari Devi hills from Mandi, Himachal Pradesh, on Friday to look for them. An army helicopter will also conduct aerial search for the four missing people.
Two students, Navneet and Akshay, of NIT Hamirpur and two of their friends, have been missing since January 6, the same day they began their trek to Shikari Peak in Janjehali Valley.
Navneet and Akshay’s parents informed the Janjehali administration that they were missing on Friday.
Initially police officials from Police Post Janjehali were sent to look for the missing people.
The students had reportedly said in the hostel record book that they were going home, but on Facebook they mentioned that they were going to trek in the Shikari Peak.
With snowfall in the region, there are fears that they were caught in the snow. Frostbite and hypothermia are real dangers in such extreme conditions. Many mountaineers have had to get limbs or fingers cut off due to hypothermia.
Fingers, toes, ear lobes, or the tip of the nose are the areas most susceptible to frostbite since the body works extra hard to keep internal organs and the head warm in extreme conditions.