Saturday, 08 October 2022 | PNS | DEHRADUN
Seven more bodies were recovered on Friday after a team of mountaineers from the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering (NIM) were trapped by an avalanche at Draupadi Ka Danda in Uttarkashi on October 4. The death toll has risen to 26 and three climbers were still missing till late on Friday evening as per the official report.
The officials informed that a total of 29 persons were stranded at the disaster site on Tuesday out of which 26 bodies have been recovered which include those of 24 trainees and two instructors. Four bodies were recovered on Tuesday, 15 bodies were recovered on Thursday, and seven bodies were recovered on Friday while three bodies remained missing till late Friday evening, as per the officials.
A team of experts comprising 14 members from Gulmarg in Jammu and Kashmir, High Altitude Warfare School (HAWS) has also been assisting the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and NIM in the rescue operation since Thursday. The officials informed that the search and rescue operation is in progress at the site and the heliborne operation is also being carried out as per the weather condition as the bad weather has also been hampering the rescue operation. They said that the evacuation of bodies will be done by helicopter if the weather condition gets better on Saturday. It is pertinent to mention here that the avalanche hit the Draupadi Ka Danda peak when the NIM team was at a height of 17,000 feet on Tuesday. The NIM team comprised 61 mountaineers and instructors returning to their camp.
