Uttarakhand avalanche: 8 more mountaineers rescued by ITBP, search operation underway

An avalanche at Uttarakhand's Draupadi Ka Danda-II mountain peak struck a 41-member mountaineering team

Image Credit: ANI; Representational Image

Uttarkashi: On Wednesday, eight more mountaineers who were trapped in an avalanche at Uttarakhand's Draupadi Ka Danda-II mountain peak were airlifted to the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP).  Savita Kanswal, an ace mountaineer who set a national record by climbing Mount Everest and Mount Makalu in 15 days, was among those killed in the avalanche at Draupadi ka Danda-II in Uttarkashi district. So far, 14 people have been evacuated as a result of the incident. The rescued mountaineers arrived in Matli, Uttarkashi, today, where they are receiving first aid treatment. These people were flown by helicopter to the 12th ITBP Battalion in Matli, Uttarkashi."Deep Singh (Gujarat), Rohit Bhatt (Tehri Garhwal), Suraj Singh (Uttarkashi), Sunil Lalwani (Mumbai), Anil Kumar (Rajasthan), Manish Agarwal (Delhi), Kanchan Singh (Chamoli) and Ankit Singh (Dehradun) were amongst who have been rescued," the Uttarakhand Police quotes.

Uttarkashi avalanche: ITBP rescues 8 more mountaineers

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The first ITBP team arrived at the base camp of Draupadi Ka Danda II mountain peak to conduct search and rescue operations. According to the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering, four mountaineers died in the avalanche on Tuesday, while others were being rescued (NIM). According to the ITBP PRO, at least eight members of the mountaineering team who were trapped in the avalanche on Draupadi's Danda-II mountain peak in Uttarkashi were "immediately rescued."

According to the NIM, the avalanche killed 41 people, including 34 trainees and 7 mountaineering instructors. According to the institute, the climbers moved to the mountain on September 23rd, following a revision of rock-climbing training at NIM and Tekhla rock climbing training area.

"The course arrived at Base Camp on September 25. As per the training schedule on October 4, the course moved for High Altitude Navigation and height gain to Mount Draupadi ka Danda-II (5670m) at 4.00 am while returning from the mountain peak the Advance Mountaineering Course was met with an avalanche occurred above camp-1 in which 34 trainees and 7 mountaineering instructors were caught under avalanche at 08:45 hrs," said per the release.

As soon as they received information about the incident, the ITBP, National Disaster Response Force, State Disaster Response Force, and local police began the rescue operation. Earlier this morning, Uttarakhand police issued a list of Nehru Mountaineering Institute trainees being sought at the peak.