Darjeeling, Sept. 30 -- A 26-year-old trekker from Cooch Behar died at Aahl village near Sandakphu on Wednesday morning after reportedly developing a fever during a trek in the Singalila region.
The deceased has been identified as Priyotosh Adhikari, a resident of Sashabindhu Roy Road in Tufanganj, Cooch Behar.
Adhikari was part of a group of four students from Cooch Behar who had started their trek from Uttarey in Sikkim on Sunday. The group reached Phalut on Monday morning.
On Tuesday morning, the trekkers set out from Phalut towards Sandakphu. After covering around 14 km, they were unable to continue their journey as Adhikari had developed fever. The group subsequently halted at Aahl village near Sandakphu.
Adhikari reportedly took two paracetamol tablets at night before going to sleep. He was found dead on Wednesday morning. The body was brought to Darjeeling Sadar Hospital for post-mortem. The exact cause of death is yet to be ascertained and is expected to be established after the post-mortem examination.
Located at an altitude of 3636m, Sandakphu, a tourist hotspot is the highest point of the state of West Bengal. Health issues are of major concern here, with most of the tourists arriving from sea level and immediately going up to an altitude of 3636m
without acclimatisation. The visitors include senior citizens also, who are highly vulnerable.
There are no medical facilities along the route. The nearest medical facility is 39 km away at Sukhiapokhri, a distance that is also in treacherous terrain, too far in times of medical emergencies.
Despite a number of tourist deaths in the past and a number of meetings by the authorities trying to make Sandakphu a more safer destination, the authorities have failed to come out with a
clear-cut policy.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.