Posters announcing a handsome reward for those providing information about missing foreign nationals are pasted on the walls of bus stands, hotels and police stations all across Kulu district. These tell the tragic tale of those who came to Kulu-Manali in search of peace and nirvana but disappeared without a trace. Indeed, the incidence of foreign tourists missing or dying in Kulu Valley has been increasing at an alarming rate in recent times.
Manikaran in Kulu has particularly acquired a notorious reputation for disappearing foreign nationals. Recently, Ivanov Aleksei, a 33-year-old Russian national, went missing in the district. He was last seen in Manikaran on April 27. Another such example is of a Canadian youth, Ardavan Taherjde, who was last seen in the Parbati valley in May 1997.
According to a police report, 14 foreigners have gone missing between 1992 and 1997. Even their bodies have not been recovered till date. This list does not include the 48 people who died of sundry other reasons - ranging from drowning to overdosing on drugs - in Kulu district since 1991. While the district police claim that only a small handful of cases of death due to assault have come to notice, recent incidents indicate a sharp spurt in the involvement of foreigners in crime here. For instance, two German nationals were shot at by miscreants near Manali just last month. One of them died on the spot.
Kulu-Manali receives around 20,000 foreign tourists every year. Some of them die in mysterious circumstances but the police insist that several deaths are because of the risky adventures the tourists indulge in. "These foreigners go alone on dangerous treks without informing the police. They dont heed our warnings nor listen to our advise of going in groups. Many die because they slip and fall from steep heights," says Anurag Garg, superintendent of police, Kulu.
Of course, the mountains are not the only high points in the area.
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