British tourist dies after rescue from mountain trail in Himalayas

A British tourist has died after seriously injuring himself while trekking in the Himalayas. The man, who had gone on a short hike to the foot of the Dhauladhar mountain range in northern India with another British tourist, fell during his descent on Sunday evening and was taken down the mountain on a stretcher. He is understood to have sustained rib injuries and was pronounced dead when he arrived at hospital on Monday. Local police said the two men, both believed to be 27, were unaware that high-altitude trekking is banned in the area during winter, according to the Times of India. The two men had arrived in the town of Dharamshala on Friday and left on Sunday for a trek from Dharamkot to Triund, a well-known trail of about 6km (3.7 miles) which enables hikers to reach an altitude of just under 3,000 metres above sea level in one day. Local tourism websites describe the Triund trek as a relatively easy hike for fit beginners. The Himachal Pradesh state disaster response force said that within half an hour of the call for rescue at 6pm on Sunday, a team of 10 rescue personnel began trekking up the mountain from Thathri, a nearby town. “The team began their trek from Thathri Power Project and, upon reaching Dritto cafe, was informed that the victims were located 4km further uphill in extremely difficult terrain,” the force said on Tuesday. “After four hours of trekking, the team located the victims at 10.30pm with one trekker in a critical condition. They secured the critical trekker on to a stretcher and began the challenging descent along with his co-trekker.” The rough terrain and repeated crossings of a rivulet made progress down the mountain extremely slow, and the team took nearly two hours to cover just 100 metres, according to the Tribune. Early on Monday morning, an exhausted first team asked for backup. A second and, eventually, third team of rescuers were sent, local media reported. After what is understood to be a near-20-hour descent, the man in critical condition was taken by ambulance to hospital just after 5pm on Monday, where he was declared dead, the Tribune reported. He has yet to be formally identified. A spokesperson for the Foreign Office said on Wednesday: “We are supporting the family of a British man who has died in India and are in contact with the local authorities.” Last October, a British mountaineer, Fay Manners, and her American companion, Michelle Dvorak, were rescued from the Himalayas three days after their food, tent and climbing equipment were dragged into a ravine by a rockfall. They had managed to send an SOS message and spent two nights in freezing conditions before being airlifted off the mountain.