Tourists mysteriously vanish in rugged Himalayas

The picturesque Kullu valley in the Himalayas is known as the valley of gods, but it also has its mysterious side: thousands of backpackers visit here but some never return, simply vanishing without a trace.
 

The latest casualty: American Israeli backpacker Amichai Shtainmetz went missing while trekking in the Kullu valley. He is the 19th foreign tourist to have gone missing in the valley since 1992, reports IANS news.
 

Amichai had gone trekking with his friend but took a different route on the way back — and hasn’t been seen since.
 

His father Jacob Shtainmetz has hired a private rescue team but they have found no trace of him.
Superintendent of Police (Kullu) K.K. Indoria told IANS:
 

“Amichai is not an isolated case of disappearance of a foreigner. He is among 19 foreign tourists who have gone missing in the Kullu valley in the past 17 years. Only one Australian tourist Burfitt Jacqueline Louise, who was reported missing in June 1993, has been traced so far."
 

The missing tourists include two Americans, three Israelis, two Swiss, three Australians, and a Briton, a Canadian and a Russian.
 

So what happened to these people?
 

There are three possibilities, according to Superintendent of Police K.K. Indoria.
 

The first is that they died in an accident. The hills around Kullu are described as gorgeous, but they are also rugged, cold and inhospitable and no place for an inexperienced or ill-equipped trekker. Some are killed due to high-altitude sickness or slip off icy tracks or are marooned by blizzards.
 

A Swedish woman’s frozen body was found on a glacier in Lahaul and Spiti district in 2004, almost 25 years after she went missing in the region.
 

The second possibility is that the missing were robbed and killed by local people and their bodies are buried in forests or thrown in streams, Indoria said. Lonely hikers carrying expensive watches, cameras and other accessories become easy prey to unemployed youth.
 

In July 2000, two Austrian trekkers were attacked as they camped near Manikaran. One was shot dead, the other escaped. In December 2001 a skeleton was found near Malana and identified as a missing Israeli pilot Nadav Mintzer.
 

The third possibility is that the missing are alive and do not want to be found, said the police officer.
 

According to the state tourism department, around 50,000 backpackers pour into the valley every summer. Of them, 10,000-15,000 are from Israel.
 

Mehar Chand Thakur, a prominent trek operator in Manali, said: “Most of the foreigners prefer to trek alone or in small groups without taking the help of local guides. They generally rely more on guidebooks.
 

“As they are not familiar with the rugged, inhospitable Himalayan terrain, a sudden change in climatic conditions often creates adverse conditions for them. The recovery of skeletons in the recent past shows that in most cases the trekkers lost their way and became disoriented in hostile climatic conditions.”
 

Jai Singh Negi, another tour operator of Kullu, said:
 

“In the summer, thousands of backpackers descend on the valley. Some do serious trekking, while others roam aimlessly from village to village. They participate in ‘full moon’ rave parties and indulge in drugs. This is one of the reasons for their mysterious deaths and disappearances.”
 

Indoria said: “We have been advising foreign tourists to hire the services of local guides, move in groups and carry satellite or mobile phones so that rescue teams could be sent in cases of emergencies.”
 

“We do have a problem with some of the Israelis who come here after three years of compulsory military service, and are desperate to have a good time. They generally don’t take many precautions. They prefer to stay in isolated, secluded areas. Some of them get involved in petty quarrels with locals. We have even asked their embassy officials to monitor their travel schedules.”
 

He said special police teams have been deployed to trace the missing foreigners in the past 10 years.
 

“We have information that a large number of foreigners who disappeared mysteriously are illegally staying in various tribal areas. We have formed special police squads to trace such people too,” he said.
 

By David Wilkening