Highlights
- Out of the 19 confirmed fatalities, 17 were trainees at the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering (NIM) while two were their instructors.
- The avalanche occurred at a height of 17,000 feet on Tuesday when a team of 41 was returning after summiting the peak.
- The trainees were part of the Advanced Mountaineering Course commenced on September 14 at NIM Uttarkashi.
The death toll in the avalanche on the Draupadi Ka Danda II peak in Uttarakhand on Tuesday has risen to 19 as three more bodies were recovered on Friday.
“A total of 19 bodies have been recovered from the crevice. Efforts are being made to bring the bodies to Matli helipad by Advanced Light Helicopter today,” Uttarakhand DGP Ashok Kumar said.
17 trainees, 2 instructed killed in avalanche
Out of the 19 bodies, four bodies were brought to the summit camp by the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) team deployed for the rescue operation, while 15 bodies were recovered at the place of the incident.
“From the summit camp, according to SDRF constable, Sunil four bodies have been brought to the summit camp by the team,” said DGP Ashok Kumar.
Out of the 19 confirmed fatalities, 17 were trainees at the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering (NIM) while two were their instructors.
Avalanche struck while the team was returning
The avalanche occurred at a height of 17,000 feet on Tuesday when a team of 41 was returning after summiting the peak.
The trainees were part of the Advanced Mountaineering Course commenced on September 14 at NIM Uttarkashi.
The course moved to the mountain on September 23 with 41 people- 34 trainees and 7 instructors and one nursing assistant and arrived at the Base Camp on September 25.
As per the training programme, the course went on for high altitude training from October 2-October 4. After summiting the 5670 metre altitude Mt Draupadi ka Danda II the team was on its way back when the avalanche struck at around 8; 45 am above camp 1 in which 34 trainees and 7 instructors got caught in it.
Search for missing continues
At least 10 more mountaineering trainees are still missing, three days after the disaster struck.
Army, IAF, NIM, Indo-Tibetan Border Police, High Altitude Warfare School (Jammu and Kashmir) and State Disaster Response Force along with the district administration are conducting the search operations for those still unaccounted for.
Two Indian Air Force (IAF) helicopters also took off from Harsil in Uttarakhand to help in the search operations, officials said.
Survivors recall the horror
Deep Thakur, a trainee from Gujarat, who survived the accident while undergoing treatment at the district hospital, said that the avalanche came all of a sudden while he was climbing to Draupadi’s Danda Peak for a summit at around 9.45 am, due to which he along with his companions fell into the crevasses about 60 feet deep, where he struggled between death and life for about 3 hours.
Another survivor, Akash Lalvani, a trainee from Mumbai, told that he was only about 100 meters below the summit of Draupadi’s Danda and the only plan was to summit the peak and get down after being photographed there, because the weather was also clear.
