With the recovery of seven more bodies on Friday, the toll in the Uttarkashi avalanche reached 26. This has turned out to be one of the highest number of casualties in any mountaineering training/summit in the country. Three people who fell in a crevasse during the training course are still missing.
The army, ITBP, SDRF and air force teams who were engaged in rescue operations recovered four bodies on Wednesday, 15 on Thursday and seven more on Friday.
“Apart from finding 26 bodies, we airlifted 13 mountaineers from the spot and 17 mountaineers were rescued on foot. Search will continue for rest of the three-missing people,” said Devendra Patwal, disaster management officer Uttarkashi, who added that search and rescue operation will continue even on Saturday but the success will depend on the weather conditions.
