For Dr Milind P Chitley, medication was a occupation however mountaineering was a calling. After finishing his MBBS and starting his profession as a health care provider, his rising love for the mountains and journey ultimately led him to go away medical observe and dedicate himself to mountaineering, a ardour that may see him construct an journey firm and spend greater than three many years main expeditions.
On Thursday, the veteran mountaineer was among the many Indians reported lacking after flash floods in Nepal. Chitley, his spouse Janhavi and a number of other members of a bunch of round 40 pilgrims travelling by means of his Mumbai-based journey firm Hills and Trails for the Kailash-Mansarovar pilgrimage couldn’t be contacted.
The group included two outstanding Mumbai docs, Andheri-based gynaecologist Dr Gayatri Deshpande and her husband Dr Anand Deshpande, who headed the haematology division at Hinduja Hospital. A number of senior residents, together with 68-year-old Sunil S Subhedar and 64-year-old Chetna Gupta, are additionally amongst these reported lacking.
The Nepal authorities has put the variety of Indians reported lacking at 178.
Chitley, who’s in his 60s, accomplished his MBBS from Grant Medical School in 1983. However his fascination with journey sports activities drew him away from standard medical observe. In 1997, he co-founded Hills and Trails turning his decades-long expertise in mountaineering right into a enterprise that has since taken a whole bunch of individuals on treks, expeditions and pilgrimage journeys throughout the Himalayas, Ladakh and the Western Ghats.
His personal mountaineering file is intensive. He has walked greater than 3,000 Himalayan trails and expeditions and climbed to greater than 23,000 ft on Mount Kangchenjunga. He was a part of the organising committee of the 1997 Everest Expedition and served because the climbing physician for the primary Indian civilian expedition to a mountain above 8,000 metres.
He additionally carried out programs and workshops on mountain security, rescue strategies and first support, and authored a guide on mountain first support and rescue. He acquired the Girimitra Award in 2005 for his contribution to mountaineering.
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The Kailash-Mansarovar Yatra was notably acquainted territory for Chitley. Shut associates mentioned he had undertaken the pilgrimage greater than 25 instances.
“Whereas he sometimes undertakes such excursions alone, his spouse Janhavi, who normally stays the Mumbai contact, accompanied him on this tour,” mentioned Rutesh Panditrao, a tour guide related to Hills and Trails.
The group started its journey on August 23 and was scheduled to return on September 6. Hills and Trails was working the tour in coordination with Nepal-based Richa Excursions and Travels.
Moreover Subhedar, Dr Gayatri Deshpande can be amongst these reported lacking. She was travelling along with her husband, Dr Anand Deshpande, and the couple was scheduled to return on September 7.
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Their niece, Maithili Mundale, mentioned the household final spoke to the couple on Sunday. “We spoke to them on Sunday and wished all of them the most effective. They had been very excited concerning the journey. They should have deliberate it a lot beforehand,” she mentioned.
The household subsequently made repeated makes an attempt to contact them. “One among their family despatched them a message yesterday morning, however it confirmed just one tick. We’ve not been in a position to get by means of to them since,” Mundale mentioned.
The couple’s son, who lives within the US, has additionally been unreachable, she mentioned.
Among the many different lacking pilgrims is 68-year-old Sunil S Subhedar, initially from Nagpur. His son, Swanand Subhedar, mentioned he final spoke to his father on August 26, when he was at Timure and making ready to proceed in direction of China.
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“I spoke to my father the day earlier than. He was very excited concerning the Kailash-Mansarovar journey. He was at Timure and about to embark on his journey to China on the pilgrimage,” Swanand mentioned.
His father’s cellphone has remained switched off since then. Subhedar was travelling with the bigger group and was accompanied by 4 of his friends from Mumbai.
“He’s a really happy-go-lucky individual and workout routines day-after-day. He was wanting ahead to this journey,” Swanand mentioned.
Chetana Gupta, 64, had learnt about Hills and Trails by means of shut pals who had earlier participated in a Mount Everest trek organised by the corporate. Her husband, Anand Gupta, mentioned she had been eager to undertake the Kailash-Mansarovar journey and had even requested him to accompany her.
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“She had her sights set on the Kailash-Mansarovar tour and had even implored me to come back alongside. Nevertheless, I most well-liked to decide out due to age-related considerations and worries about low oxygen ranges at high-altitude locations,” Anand mentioned.
Nepal military personnel amid a rescue and search operation after flash floods, on the Military Coaching Centre in Nuwakot, Nepal, Thursday, Aug. 27, 2026. The dying toll from the devastating flash floods surged to 359 on Thursday. (PTI Photograph)
He was final involved with Chetana within the early hours of the day communication was misplaced. She was travelling in direction of an immigration centre, he mentioned.
“We had been on name and he or she instructed me that her sub-group of round 30 individuals was ready to enter the immigration centre as a result of one of many co-travellers had forgotten his passport in Kathmandu,” he mentioned.
Three members of the Gupta household are actually in Kathmandu attempting to hint her and collect details about the opposite lacking travellers.
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“We are attempting to get no matter data we are able to, however thus far there was no luck,” Anand mentioned.
