Twelve friends, who had arrived in the city from Vadodara and hired a guide for a trek to the Kulang Fort in Igatpuri, where they planned to spend a night camping. However, even before they could reach the hilltop, they got lost as the sun set.

They had started climbing the hills on Sunday and were in dense forest when they lost their way. They lost network in their mobile phones and were able to seek help only around 2.45 am on Monday. A team of the Nashik disaster management department reached the hills and instructed them to whistle so that rescuers could locate them. The trekkers were 500 metres from the rescuers. The friends, including five women and eight men, trek frequently and for the Igatpuri camping they had Pramod Anderson, a guide from Mumbai.