Four bodies have been recovered and six more spotted, and 27 people are missing after a team from the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering (NIM) was hit by an avalanche at the Draupadi Ka Danda-2 peak in Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand on Tuesday. The team was part of the institute’s advance training course.
Director General of Police (DGP), Uttarakhand, Ashok Kumar, told The Hindu that an avalanche had struck at an altitude of around 17,000 feet at 8.45 a.m. on Tuesday, when a team of 54 trainee mountaineers and seven instructors from the Uttarkashi-based NIM was returning after summiting.
Among those dead are Savita Kanswal, 27, the resident of a small village in Uttarkashi. Ms. Kanswal belonged to an economically weaker family and had scaled Mount Everest, creating a national record of 10 expeditions in June this year.
“In two days, with the efforts of all top agencies like the IAF [Indian Air Force], ITBP [Indo Tibetan Border Police], SDRF [State Disaster Response Force], NDRF [National Disaster Response Force], and NIM officials, we managed to rescue 14 people. Bodies of four people have been brought to the base camp, and six more bodies were spotted,” Mr. Kumar said.
Rescue operations have been halted for the night due to darkness and bad weather, the DGP said, adding that the ITBP and IAF teams had managed to reach very near the accident spot and rescue operations will start again on Thursday.
According to an official statement from the NIM, the people hit by the avalanche were part of the organisation’s Advance Mountaineering Course which started on September 14.
“As per course training schedule, after the revision of Rock-Climbing Training at NIM and Tekhla Rock climbing Training area the course moved to mountain on September 23rd with 34 trainees along with 07 mountaineering instructors Total 41 and 01 Nursing Assistant,” the NIM statement said.
They added that the team of the mountaineers had reached the base camp on September 25, after undergoing training in ‘Ice and Snow Craft’ at the base camp and advance base camp.
“As per training programme the course went for high-altitude training at Camp-1 which was scheduled from October 02-04. As per training schedule on 04 Oct 2022 the course moved for High Altitude Navigation and height gain to Mount Draupadi ka Danda-II (5670m) at 4 AM while returning back from the mountain peak the Advance,” the NIM said.
According to Uttarkashi disaster management officials, three instructors from NIM were dropped off at the institute’s Dokrani Bamak glacier base camp to conduct the search and rescue operation. Two helicopters from the IAF base camp in Uttar Pradesh’s Sarsawa also conducted a recce of the avalanche site before returning to the Harshil helipad. An Army ALH helicopter from the Air Force Station in Bareilly is also waiting at the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) helipad in Matli to join the search and rescue operation on Wednesday morning.
Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami visited the State Disaster Management Authority office at the Secretariat for an update. He cancelled all his programmes for Wednesday, and announced an ex-gratia of ₹2 lakh for the kin of the deceased and ₹50,000 for injured.
On Tuesday, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said that he was “deeply anguished by the loss of precious lives due to landslide which has struck the mountaineering expedition”.
“My condolences to the bereaved families who have lost their loved ones. Spoke to CM Uttarakhand and took stock of the situation. Rescue operations are underway to help the mountaineers who are still trapped,” Mr. Singh said.
