Govt may send search teams to trace 2013 tragedy remains

The state government is likely to send multiple teams to the Kedarnath region once again this year in search of skeletal remains of victims from the 2013 flood tragedy — despite years of similar operations yielding no results, according to an official familiar with the matter.

- Amit Bathla

Vinod Kumar Suman, secretary of disaster management, said, “We sent teams last year for the search of skeletal remains of the Kedarnath victims but didn't find any. We will submit the report of that in the high court for compliance of its directives and if necessary, we will send teams this year as well.”

Sub-Inspector Rajwar Singh Rana, who was part of one such search team in 2024, said, “I, along with my team, searched for traces of human remains from Kedarnath to Vasuki Tal, but to no avail.”

The last time any remains were recovered was in September 2020, when four skeletons were found during a search operation between Garud Chatti and Gau Mukh. Since the devastating flash floods and landslides in June 2013, a total of 703 bodies or skeletal remains have been recovered from the region — including 545 in 2013, 63 in 2014, three in 2015, 60 in 2016, seven in 2017, and 21 in 2018.