2 skeletons found in Dhauladhar range

DHARAMSHALA: Police on Wednesday found two human skeletons near 4342-meter Inderhaar pass in the Dhauladhar mountain range. The remains was retrieved by cops of adjoining Chamba district as the peak was closer to them.
The skeletal remains are suspected to be of two French trekkers - Valentin Marcel Gorges, 20, and Francois Xavier Camille, 21 - who had gone missing in the area in August 2013. Gorges and Camille were part of an expedition group of 32 members who had gone for trekking to Tirund area near here.The entire group had returned to base camp at Dharamkot village a day after the trekking. But Gorges and Camille took a different route in an attempt to scale the Moon Peak, adjacent to Inderhaar Pass. Since then, there was no trace of the duo.
Mega search operation was launched by the Kangra police and was later joined by the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF). But the joint search operations did not bear fruit. Their belongings, a rucksack containing books, camera, binoculars, two mobiles and earphones, were found floating in a glacial stream near Moon Peak 10 months after they had gone missing.
Later a search operation was launched by the French embassy officials that also failed and was called off in June 2014.
Inderhaar Paas connects Dharamshala with Chamba and is used by the Gaddi community (shepherds), who herd sheep and goats and trekkers to cross over to the other side.
Kangra senior superintendent of police Sanjeev Gandhi said some trekkers had spotted the remains and informed the police. "We were planning to send a team to retrieve the remains but area lies in Chamba territory hence the same was communicated to the officials there," Gandhi said, adding that police there had retrieved the remains and have sent them for forensic analysis. He, however, said it was difficult to confirm the identity.