CHAMOLI, July 21 — An 18-year-old Sikh pilgrim from Punjab lost his life on Sunday after falling into a deep ditch near the revered Hemkund Sahib gurdwara in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district, police said.
The victim, identified as Gurpreet Singh of Kale village in Amritsar, was part of a 90-member group visiting the high-altitude shrine. According to officials, Singh deviated from the main pedestrian route to the gurdwara and took an old, unsafe trail that had been officially closed due to safety concerns.
“He slipped and fell into a ditch nearly 100 metres deep,” said a police officer involved in the rescue. “That section of the trail has been shut for a reason — it’s dangerous and unstable.”
Personnel from the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), local police, and other emergency teams rushed to the site and launched a rescue operation. Singh’s body was later recovered from the gorge.
Authorities have urged pilgrims to follow designated routes and avoid unsafe paths, especially in high-altitude regions prone to landslides and sudden weather shifts. The Hemkund Sahib route, nestled at over 15,000 feet, attracts thousands of devotees annually and is considered both spiritually significant and physically challenging.
