Landslide at Sela Pass with a Sick Traveller
Guwahati-based operator North East Horizons sold a 7-night Tawang–Bomdila group tour for 16 domestic tourists departing 15 October at ₹34,500 per person. Inner Line Permits were filed for 12 people; four booked 10 days before departure and were allowed to proceed only as far as Dirang while their applications are verified. On day three a landslide closes the Sela Pass road and the BRO estimates 36–48 hours. The group is at an army transit point at 4,100 m. A 62-year-old traveller has a headache, breathlessness at rest and a dry cough; the group's oxygen cylinder is half full. The backup hotel at Dirang has only 8 rooms, and the coach heater is faulty. Two nights at Tawang were prepaid and non-refundable, ₹1.1 lakh in total. The 24-year-old local guide is leading his first season and calls the office for instructions.
1. Set out your first six hours of decisions - medical, movement and shelter - and justify the order.
Read the worked answer
0–30 minutes: treat it as suspected HAPE and descend. Headache, breathlessness at rest and a dry cough at 4,100 m in a 62-year-old is high-altitude pulmonary oedema until proven otherwise. The treatment is descent, not waiting for the road. Give oxygen at 2–4 L/min, keep him warm and sitting, stop all exertion, and move him down towards Dirang (roughly 1,500 m) immediately with a companion and the most experienced staff member. Radio ahead to the transit point or 108 for a medical handover at the Dirang health centre. Record times, oxygen saturation readings and oxygen consumed - those notes matter later.
30–90 minutes: shelter and warmth for the other fifteen. The faulty heater is now a safety issue, not a comfort one. Request blankets and space at the transit point, run the engine only in short warming bursts (diesel fumes and fuel are their own risk), and split the eight Dirang rooms to the vulnerable: the patient's companion, elderly guests, and families with young children. The rest stay warm in the transit camp on a rota with hot tea and a named person on watch.
90–180 minutes: one voice, fixed updates. An honest update every two hours beats speculation. Say the road estimate is 36–48 hours and that tomorrow's plan will be confirmed by 18:00.
3–6 hours: re-plan on the worst case. Assume 48 hours closed. Do not hold a group at 4,100 m hoping. Decide between basing two nights at Dirang/Bomdila and rebuilding the Tawang leg, or withdrawing towards Bhalukpong and salvaging West Kameng.
Why this order: altitude illness deteriorates in hours and every hour at height removes options; exposure is next; information and money can wait.
2. Four passengers have no permit. What do you do about them and the itinerary, and how do you explain it to the whole group?
Read the worked answer
Do not test the check post. A guard at a mountain barrier has discretion, and an argument there costs the entire group a day and possibly the relationship with the post for future departures. The four without verified permits cannot go to Tawang.
Options to put to them, in writing
- Substitute programme in West Kameng: Dirang, Sangti valley, Bomdila monastery and a Nameri day, with a guide, rejoining the group on the return leg. Adjust the invoice for the Tawang hotel and meals not consumed.
- Wait for verification: if the permits clear by the next morning, they travel with the group - but this is only offered if the check post confirms it in writing or by phone to the office, not on a hopeful assumption.
Give them the choice rather than deciding for them, and record their acceptance. Never let them board the coach toward Tawang 'to see what happens' - that is how a documentation problem becomes a detention.
Explaining it to the whole group: be factual, brief, and non-blaming. 'Permits for four members are still being verified, so those four will travel with an alternative programme in Dirang and rejoin us. It does not affect the rest of the group's itinerary.' Then answer questions once, openly, and move on. Side conversations and rumours are more damaging than the fact.
Root cause to fix: a 10-day cut-off is too late for permit verification in peak season. Set a 21-day booking cut-off for Arunachal departures, or a written clause at booking that permits are not guaranteed and the substitute programme applies. Add a checklist item that no departure is confirmed until permit status is verified passenger by passenger.
3. The Tawang hotel refuses a refund on the two prepaid non-refundable nights. How do you handle the commercial loss and what do you tell the clients?
Read the worked answer
Work the three routes in order, before deciding who bears what.
- Ask for a credit note rather than a refund. A hotel that will not return ₹1.1 lakh will often issue a 12-month credit - it costs them little and protects the relationship. Ask in writing, citing the BRO closure notice, and propose the credit be applied to next season's departures.
- Check the insurance position honestly. Read the operator's own policy and any client travel insurance for curtailment and road-closure wording. Landslides and 'acts of nature' are commonly excluded unless specifically covered - read before promising anything to anyone.
- Quantify the loss and divide it deliberately. Suppose the credit note recovers ₹60,000. The remaining ₹50,000 is a genuine cost of the disruption. Absorb part as the operator's risk and pass part on transparently, itemised - for example, refund unused meals and entry fees per person and show the retained Tawang accommodation line with its explanation.
What not to do: do not say 'the hotel refused, so we cannot refund'. It reads as the operator hiding behind a supplier and destroys trust faster than the loss itself. Say instead: 'Two nights were prepaid and non-refundable. We have recovered X as a credit and we are absorbing Y. Here is the revised invoice.'
Documentation: keep the BRO advisory, the closure notice, the guide's time-stamped log and all correspondence. This is the evidence base for any insurance claim, any state tourism authority complaint, and any dispute - and it is the difference between a defensible settlement and a goodwill payment made under pressure.
Afterwards: add a force-majeure and curtailment clause to the booking terms, and price future Arunachal packages with a small contingency margin rather than assuming every season runs to plan.