Page 2 - Mountaineers

Uttarakhand avalanche: Search for two mountaineers continues for 11th day

Search for the two mountaineers who continue to be missing after the October 4 avalanche in the district went on for the 11th day on Friday amid bad weather. Meanwhile, one more body recovered earlier was brought to the district hospital here to be handed over to the relatives after a post-mortem. Inclement weather at the avalanche site located at an altitude of 17,000 feet near Draupadi ka Danda-II peak has been hampering search and rescue efforts for nearly a week. Two mountaineers out of a team of 29 are still missing, Registrar of Nehru Institute of Mountaineering Vishal Ranjan said. Twenty-seven bodies have already been recovered and brought down, he said. Those who went missing after the avalanche are said to have fallen into a crevasse. However, the body of trainee mountaineer Sourav Biswas from West Bengal, which had been recovered earlier was brought to the ITBP camp at Matli and then to the district hospital here on Friday, he said. The body will be handed over to rel

Uttarkashi avalanche: 10 more bodies recovered, toll climbs to 26

Ten more bodies were recovered from the site of an avalanche here, taking the death toll to 26, the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering said on Friday. Two Cheetah helicopters took off from the Army helipad in Harsil to join the search operations, officials said. The avalanche occurred at a height of 17,000 feet on Tuesday when a team of the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering (NIM) was returning after summiting Draupadi Ka Danda II peak. Three more bodies were recovered from the avalanche site late on Thursday evening and seven were found on Friday, taking the total number of bodies retrieved so far to 26, the NIM said. While 24 of these bodies are of trainee mountaineers, two are of their instructors, it said. According to the NIM, three trainees are still missing. Fifteen bodies were recovered on Thursday, the NIM said. Four of the bodies that were being brought to Matli were taken to the Harsil helipad due to bad weather. From there, they were sent to Uttarkashi in ambulances, .

10 bodies retrieved, 27 mountaineers missing after avalanche in Uttarkashi

Twenty-seven mountaineers remained missing on Wednesday after rescue workers brought 14 injured members of their team to safety, a day after an avalanche claimed 10 lives in Uttarkashi. The Uttarakhand Police said on Facebook that 10 bodies have been retrieved so far as a multi-agency search and rescue operation aided by IAF helicopters continued through the day to find those missing. Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami did an aerial inspection of the area, which is at a height of 17,000 feet, that was hit by the avalanche on Tuesday and told reporters that 27 climbers are still missing. He said he prayed for their safety even as personnel of the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and mountaineers from the Nehru Institute Of Mountaineering (NIM) are trying to find the missing climbers. "Out of 34, 27 are still missing, Dhami told reporters after the aerial survey along with Haridwar MP and former Union ...

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Sharp winds scuttle efforts to retrieve bodies of mountaineers

Indian Air Force helicopters on Wednesday undertook three sorties to retrieve bodies of five mountaineers lying near the Nanda Devi East Peak in Uttarakhand but high speed sharp winds hampered their efforts. Considering the tough terrain, the operation of retrieving the bodies might extend beyond a week, Pithoragarh District Magistrate V K Jogdande said. He said three sorties were undertaken from Pithoragarh to retrieve the bodies but the helicopters could not hover over and get down at the spot where five bodies were found. High speed sharp winds at the peak did not let the IAF helicopters with ITBP mountaineers on board get down, he said. "Besides the aerial operation, the administration will also try to reach the spot by the land route tomorrow to retrieve the bodies," he said. We are being joined by 35 State Disaster Response Force men tonight who will be divided into two groups. One will be sent to the spot by land route while the other will try to reach the spot by air," the