Dharamsala (HP), Feb 7 (PTI) The police found the bodies of two people who died after they slipped and fell in snow in Himachal Pradesh’s Billing Valley, as a pet dog stood guard over them for almost two days, officials said on Wednesday.
The two tourists, including a woman, went missing on Sunday. The rescue teams searching for the duo on Tuesday heard the barking sound of the German Shepherd, the police said.
On following the sound, they reached the bodies that were lying on the side of a walking trail, three kilometres below the take-off point for paragliders, they added.
For almost two days, the dog, named Alpha, guarded the bodies, which bore marks of attack by wild animals, according to police.
When the rescue teams removed the bodies, the dog accompanied them till Bir on foot from where the deceased man’s family members took him, the police said The deceased, identified as Abhinandan Gupta (30), a resident of Pathankot, and his friend Pranita Wala (26), hailing from Pune had arrived in Bir Billing, the world-famous paragliding destination in Himachal Pradesh’s Kangra district, on Sunday afternoon.
The duo came in a private car along with Gupta’s dog. After parking the car, they left on foot to the take-off point for paragliders.
When both of them did not return to Chogan near Bir, their friends on Monday informed the police, following which a rescue team launched a search operation and recovered the bodies on Tuesday.
Preliminary investigation suggests that the man and the woman slipped in the snow, sustained injuries and died due to extreme cold, Kangra ASP Veer Bahadur said.
The post-mortem report will reveal the circumstances under which both the people died, he said.
Gupta was living in a rented house near Chaugan in Bir for the last five years, while the girl had come to Bir a few days ago, police said. PTI COR BPL RPA
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