SRINAGAR: The scholar who has gone missing during Gangbal trekking is yet to be traced, people associated with the rescue mission said. Identified as Hilal Abdul Basit, he hails from Bemina.
Police have kept four members of the trekking group in their custody for mandatory investigations as the searches to trace Hilal is going on. Missing trekker’s family had already registered a case with the police in Kangan after they were informed about Hilal’s do
Reports said Hilal was part of a five-member group of friends who had gone trekking the Gangbal trek. On June 15, while negotiating an ascent, according to reports, he felt fatigued and told the group that they should move ahead and he will wait for their return.
However, when the group returned, they found him missing. They looked around but could not trace him and finally they informed the family and the government. This is what his friends have told the family and eventually the police.
The official mountaineering hiking association lacked any knowledge of the particular group’s adventure. However, they have joined the rescue efforts. They found his scooty parked at Naranag.
“We sent eight members of our group to supplement the efforts of the district administration,” Mahmood Ahmad Shah, the president of the Jammu and Kashmir Mountaineers and Hokers Club (JKMHC) told Kashmir Life. “It is a huge group comprising around 18 local residents, eight members of our club, a police party and the bother of the missing trekker that is searching for the missing trekker.”
Shah said the group has scanned the Butshree slopes but have not been able to locate any trace of the missing trekker. “Today four of the members have come down to manage the supplies for the four others who are putting up over the heights. We will continue the search.”
Hilal, according to Shah, is an orphan and was pursuing his PhD in the University of Kashmir.
