Two trekkers missing in Badimalika amid heavy snowfall

Two young men from Kanchanpur district have been out of contact in the Badimalika area of Bajura since heavy snowfall hit the region, according to the District Police Office in Bajura. Police named them as Manish Bohara, 20, of Daiji in Bedkot Municipality, and Sagar Karki, 21, of Krishnapur Municipality-2.

According to police, the two were part of a five-member group that set out from the district headquarters, Martadi, to visit the Badimalika temple, a religious and tourist site. The other three reached Badimalika and have returned. Bohara and Karki were still out of contact as of Saturday afternoon, October 31.

Police Inspector Naresh Bahadur Shahi, the office's information officer, said Bohara lost contact on Friday while returning from the temple, and that Karki could not be reached from Friday night. When police spoke to Karki by phone on Friday, Shahi said, he told them his friend had gone missing on the way back from Badimalika and that he was at Triveni Patan. Shahi said the two may have been stranded by the heavy snow, and that signals suggest both men's mobile phones are switched off.

Rain has fallen in the district since Friday, bringing snow to Badimalika and other high Himalayan areas and making rescue difficult, according to Shahi. Police are preparing to send a team from Martadi to search for the two.