The Hindu : Shocked students stymie probe

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Sunday, Sep 15, 2002

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Shocked students stymie probe

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI SEPT. 14. As hopes to locate Soumyajit Guha — the Jawaharlal Nehru University student who went missing during a trek in the Kullu Valley — diminished, reports came in today that the team convenor who had stayed back to assist the rescuers had also been hospitalised.

It is understood that the convenor, Jacob, had almost moved into a state of delirium after Soumyajit could not be located. Jacob was apparently the last person to have been with him. According to team members who returned here late on Friday night, Jacob could not even speak coherently after the incident.

While Jacob was being attended to at a medical facility at Kaza village in Kulu district, JNU authorities were trying to reconstruct the sequence of events from the accounts of students who have returned. "Most of the team members are in a state of shock and varied versions by them is only making it difficult for us to figure out what actually happened,'' admitted an official.

However, contrary to the general impression that authorities had not been informed of the trek, an examination of documents in the sports office has revealed that the group had duly obtained permission. In fact, this was the annual autumn trek for which the JNU Mountaineering Club had also been sanctioned about Rs. 20,000.

The permission was granted on August 8 and the students also underwent a two-week physical training session on the campus. The trek to the Pin Parbati pass too is a route listed by Indian Mountaineering Federation.

Now, documents do not go beyond this. According to authorities, there is no precedent of the team convenor submitting a health and fitness certificate of each team member chosen for the trek. As a result, JNU officials had no idea of Soumyajit's medical history and that he had respiratory problems.

As it turns out, the compatibility of the team's fitness and the difficulty level of the trek was never properly checked. Even if it was done, sources said, there was no verification of it by JNU authorities. Also, none of the team members had ever been on this route before neither were they accompanied by an experienced instructor.

Unable to withstand the difficult conditions, sources said, a section of team confronted the leaders of not informing them in detail about the level of difficulty on this route.

The differences were subsequently resolved and the team went ahead. According to the accounts of team members and one of the leaders, Sanjiv Kumar, they were less than a kilometre away from the pass when an unannounced blizzard took them by surprise.

It is understood that Soumyajit had taken ill before that and was only partially conscious for most part of the climb."He was being somehow carried by team members and Jacob along with three others were responsible for him,'' said a senior JNU official after his talks with the students.

As the blizzard arrived and the team tried to rush to a plausible campsite across a crevice, carrying Soumyajit began to get tougher, who was by then completely unconscious.

At that juncture, the team leaders tried to bring him back into consciousness but their efforts failed. Since others had to cross the crevice, Jacob stayed with Soumyajit who had been placed inside a sleeping bag.

Beyond this, the team members are not sure of what happened. "All they say is Jacob on reaching the tent put up by the first group, was in a state of delirium and could not provide a logical explanation to what had happened,'' said the official.

Meanwhile, a missing report has been filed with the local police and rescue operations were on. There were plans of a chopper surveying the area today but bad weather stalled these plans. Members of Soumyajit's family too arrived here today to obtain a further update.

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