Sintu Mondol last spoke to his brother, Rintu, on October 26, two days after Rintu and his four friends left their homes in West Bengal’s Bankura for a trek in Uttarakhand’s Kedartal. The five are among eight trekkers who went missing after snowfall and avalanches hit the region, as rescue teams race against time to look for them. On Tuesday, two bodies – that of a man and a woman – were recovered, though their identities have not been established so far.“They left on October 24. The last time I spoke to him was on October 26. He said that he would be unreachable for a few days,” said Sintu. On Monday, a week after he last heard his brother’s voice, local administrative officials visited the Mondols and the four other families and told them that their sons were missing. “We are worried sick,” said Sintu.Rintu Mondol (40) and his friends, Uday Ghosh (30), Ratan Ghosh (23), and Tapas Bauri (30) from Salboni village and Monoj Khawas (39) from Keshra village are mountain lovers, Sintu said. “This is the fifth year they visited Uttarakhand. They love the mountains. They save money for a tour every year. They also visited Darjeeling and Nepal,” Sintu told The Indian Express.Their families said the five work in factories and make around Rs 20,000 a month. With this income, setting aside money for travel is not easy, but they loved the mountains too much to stay home. Rintu lives with Sintu, his wife, and their two children. “My brother is the leader of the group of five. He is a popular guy. He works in a local sponge iron factory like me and earns Rs 19,000 per month. He saves money for the tours. He is not interested in marriage and eagerly waits for the annual trip to the mountains,” said Sintu. He said the five friends saved up and bought trekking jackets and boots that they took on tours.Uday Ghosh (30) works in a rubber factory in Bankura and earns around Rs 20,000 a month. Like Rintu, he is unmarried. “Before leaving home, my brother said they wanted to see Kedartal. In the past four years, they visited various Dhams and places in Uttarakhand, but not Kedartal,” Moloy Ghosh, Uday’s brother, told The Indian Express over the phone.Uday lives with his father, mother, brother and brother’s wife. “My brother used all his savings on this annual tour. He said he would marry after constructing our home. The first floor roof is up. He said he would get the rest built gradually,” said Moloy. Uday’s father Dinesh said they believe he will return safely. “Yesterday, officials visited our house and informed us that they are lost in snow. They said that rescue operations could not be conducted on Monday because of snowfall. They said they will update us soon, positive or negative. We believe he will return home alive,” he said. Tapas Bauri lives with his parents and brother and works at a sponge iron factory, and Ratan Ghosh and Monoj Khawas work in a land developer’s office. Besides the five Bengal friends, two women from UP are among the missing trekkers. (Special Arrangement, enhanced with AI)Two bodies were recovered from avalanche debris in Uttarakhand’s Kedartal region on Tuesday as rescue teams resumed their search for the missing six. This was the fifth day of the rescue operation.Story continues below this adAn update by the Uttarkashi District Emergency Operations Centre on Tuesday stated that a joint team of the State Disaster Response Force and the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering recovered the bodies during a search operation that began around 7:30 am “after considerable effort”.The search operation was called off at around 3 pm, following which the rescue teams returned to base camp. The operation will resume on Wednesday. The team has constructed an alternative helipad at the incident site, located at an altitude of 4,005 metres, to facilitate helicopter operations. The development comes after eight members of a 12-member trekking party went missing in the Kedartal region following heavy snowfall and avalanches.The group, comprising seven trekkers, a guide, a cook and three porters, had set out from Gangotri on October 27. They had been granted permission for a three-day expedition on October 26 and were expected to return by October 29. Hours after the group departed, authorities received a weather alert around 10:30-11 am on October 27, warning of adverse conditions expected on October 29. However, officials were unable to contact the group to convey the warning, Mayank Garg, Deputy Director of Gangotri National Park, had earlier told The Indian Express.On October 30, a day after the group was expected to return, authorities received information that its members had been trapped by heavy snowfall and avalanches. Four members of the party — three porters and a cook — were rescued on October 31 near Kachchi Dhang, below the avalanche-affected stretch. The remaining eight, including five trekkers from West Bengal, two women from Uttar Pradesh and a 25-year-old local guide from Uttarkashi, were reported missing.Story continues below this adRescue operations have been hampered by multiple avalanches along the route. Information available with the Forest Department indicated that avalanches had occurred at around 10-12 locations.On Monday, the fourth day of the search operation, teams had spotted a tent, bags and other belongings near the Kedarkadak area but could not locate any of the missing trekkers. Speaking to The Indian Express, an official associated with the search operations said, “Once we found the tent and belongings, we started digging around the area and recovered remains of two individuals.” An aerial reconnaissance also failed to yield any leads.The SDRF and NIM are jointly conducting the search operation.