A special task force (STF), comprising 22 members, recovered 17 more skeletons from the Jungle Chatti and Rambara forest areas near the Kedarnath valley in Rudrapryag district on Sunday, just four days after 17 were recovered. The team, led by DIG G S Martolia and Ajay Kotiyal from the Uttarkashi-based Nehru Mountaineering Institute, recovered nine skeletons from the Jungle Chatti area and eight from the Rambara area. They are believed to be of people who panicked and ran to higher regions for refuge during the flash floods in June last year.
The intensive combing operation was launched on Wednesday.
Members of the STF told TOI since the exact number of those who went missing and were killed during the disaster could not be ascertained, the possibility of recovering even more skeletons from the forest areas between Gaurikund to Kedarnath cannot be ruled out. "Our combing operation is on and will continue till all skeletons are found," said DIG G S Martolia.
An STF officer added that the skeletons were cremated after their teeth were sent to the Dehradun forensic laboratory for DNA and other related tests to ascertain their identities.
Meanwhile, the Congress-led Harish Rawat government in the state has constituted an 18-member combined task force, headed by IPS officer Sanjay Gunjyal, to intensify efforts through a 20-day long search operation for more skeletons in the region. "This new task force will help recover more skeletons from the region within the next couple of days," said chief secretary Subhash Kumar.
A combined search team had recovered about 350 rotten bodies from places in high altitudes two months after the catastrophe in the Kedarnath valley in mid-June last year. The bodies were cremated post DNA tests.
Monday 16 June 2014
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/17-more-skeletons-found-near-Kedarnath-valley/articleshow/36619114.cms
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