A group of trekkers from Tiruchi, who had undertaken an expedition to Green Lake in Sikkim on the foot of Kanchenjunga peak, had a narrow escape when the earthquake struck the region.
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Nine trekkers, including seven from here, were part of the expedition, organised by the Science and Adventure Club in the city. The club organises treks to the Himalayas every year. The team had left Tiruchi on April 9 and had a successful trek uphill to catch “a spectacular view” of Kanchenjunga.
On Sunday, the earthquake struck when the team was on its way back, almost on its last leg of the trek.
“We were trekking down from Jakthang to Tallem when we felt the ground shaking. Some of us felt giddy. Fifteen minutes later, we heard terrible rumblings. We soon realised that there has been an earthquake somewhere and avalanches too,” said J. Ramanan, president of the club, who along with his wife Vrinda Ramanan, both trained mountaineers, led the expedition.
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The team’s fears came true the next day, the last day of their trek, when they were returning to Lachen, the base camp, about 14 km down hill.
“Rocks had fallen all along and boulders were hanging precariously from above. It was a veritable death trap. We had to watch our every step and get around the boulders. We managed to negotiate the route to reach Lachen safely. We would have been in danger if we had crossed this section a day before,” Mr.Ramanan said, speaking to The Hindu over telephone from Gangtok on Tuesday.
The team members felt a few aftershocks at Gangtok too.
A team from Tiruchi escaped a veritable death trap on their way back from Kanchenjunga