Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami announced a probe into the “illegal trekking” — an all-women expedition organised by the Chennai Trekking Club and another by the Erode-based Tour De India Holidays. He announced a solatium of Rs. 4 lakh each to the families of the deceased from the State Disaster Relief Fund. Separately Rs. 1 lakh would be given to those who sustained severe injures and Rs. 50,000 to those who sustained minor injuries from the CM’s Public Relief Fund. Rescuers believe that the victims, while trying to escape from the inferno, fell one after another into a 70-foot gorge where they were charred. “They were not able to balance or tried to climb down to escape the fire and fell down to death,” said a forest officer, who was in the thick of the rescue operations. The rescuers had to use ropes to climb down and retrieve the bodies. According to Theni forest officials, there is only one official trekking route, Kurangani-Top Station, in the Bodi hills.