Plastic shields Calcutta trekker after fall from 250ft - Elderly man separated from team

Sambhu Roy Chowdhury after his rescue on Wednesday: Telegraph picture

Vivek Chhetri   |   TT   |   Darjeeling   |    06.03.21 : Sambhu Roy Chowdhury, 62, a Calcutta trekker who had gone missing for nearly 24 hours at Sandakphu, situated at an altitude of more than 11,000 feet, braved the cold winter night on empty stomach and  wrapped himself with “plastics” to escape from near sub-zero temperature.

Chowdhury got separated from a 10-member senior citizen trekking group on Tuesday and was rescued the following day after having spent the night taking shelter under a tree nearly 250 feet downhill the main trekking route in the Singalila National Park.

When the group reached Rimbick, about 60km from Darjeeling and a place with steady mobile connectivity along the trekking route, on Thursday night, Chowdhury recalled the incident to The Telegraph.

“I was walking in a group of three and around 11am on Tuesday, I decided to respond to nature’s call. I think there was ice (probably frost) and I suddenly slipped downhill,” said Chowdhury. He believes that he felt almost 250ft downhill and for some time, he was “unconscious”.

The area was wrapped in dense fog and even though his team consisted of nine other members, trekkers don’t march in columns like patrolling defence personnel.

“Since everyone has his own pace, the distance between trekkers varies. The fog was also dense and they (other trekkers) probably realised after a while that I was missing,” said Chowdhury.

The group, which consists of former office colleagues and friends from his Netaji Nagar neighbourhood in Calcutta, had started the search for Chowdhury from Tuesday afternoon. Chowdhury is a retired central government employee.

Once the trekker regained consciousness after some hours of his fall, he tried to climb uphill. “I was hurt on both my hands,” he said. When the fog is dense, finding a proper route even during the daytime in the hills is difficult, especially when the terrain is new.

As hours passed and the day slipped into night, Chowdhury, who had undergone survival skill training, decided to take shelter under a tree. “I had no food, no medicine with me. I wrapped myself in plastics that I was carrying and broke ice to drink as I had no water with me,” he recalled.

Temperatures during night can be near sub-zero and strong freezing cold are common in that area. Going by the video immediately recorded after the rescue, Chowdhury was not adequately dressed for an outdoor night.

That day, the team had started trekking from Gorkhay and not the usual Maneybhanjyang end. They were trekking from Phalut to Sandakphu when the incident took place somewhere near Molley.

The following morning, Chowdhury tried to find his way uphill despite being weak and tired. “As I was trying to crawl uphill, our guide Janam Singh was the first to reach me, followed by the SSB personnel and other rescuers,” said the trekker.

The team will be reaching Calcutta on Saturday. “I was saved because of God’s will,” said Chowdhury.

(Courtesy & source- The Telegraph- https://www.telegraphindia.com/west-bengal/plastic-shields-kolkata-trekker-after-fall-from-250ft/cid/1808673)