Forest Department staff closing the entrance to Vellingiri Hills on Sunday.
| Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Two pilgrims, including a 45-year-old woman, died of suspected health issues while trekking on the Vellingiri Hills in Coimbatore district on Sunday, taking the death toll of this year’s trekking season, which started in February, to seven.

Meanwhile, the Forest Department closed entry for the hills on Sunday afternoon in view of the Red Alert issued by the Regional Meteorological Centre, Chennai, for the ghat areas of Coimbatore district for May 25 and 26.

According to the department, M. Kousalya of Karaikal died on the seventh hill on Sunday noon. She had come with two other women for the pilgrimage. The other deceased was identified as P. Selvakumar, 32, of Melpennathur in Tiruvannamalai. He died on the fifth hill. Causes of their deaths would be ascertained after post-mortem examination, officials said.

Efforts were on to bring back their bodies to the downhill, using makeshift stretchers, said Boluvampatti Forest Range Officer T. Suseendranath.

Following the two deaths and intermittent heavy rain, the department closed the entry of pilgrims to the hills on Sunday. Pilgrims, who already started trekking and those who reached the summit, were asked to descend immediately in view of the potential extreme weather conditions, said sources.

Vellingiri pilgrimage involves 6.5 km-long trekking from the Vellingiri Andavar temple at Poondi at the downhill to the summit at the seventh hill, where Lord Shiva is worshipped in Swayambhu (self-manifested form). The trekking route passes through seven hills falling under the Boluvampatti forest range and the summit is situated at a height of 1,850 metres (MSL).

As per an order of the Madras High Court, the pilgrimage through reserve forest areas is allowed from February to May every year. The seven persons, who lost their lives during the pilgrimage this year, includes a 15-year-old boy from Dindigul district.