5 Navy personnel go missing after avalanche hits Trishul expedition
DEHRADUN: At least six people, including five Indian Navy personnel, went missing on Friday morning after a mountaineering expedition team was hit by an avalanche on Mount Trishul in Uttarakhand’s Bageshwar district, officials at Uttarkashibased Nehru Institute of Mountaineering (NIM) said.
Mount Trishul is a group of three peaks that resembles a trident, the weapon of Lord Shiva, in the western Kumaon Himalayas in Bageshwar district, 320 kms from Dehradun.
The incidents, the officials cited above said, took place at around 5 am when the expedition team had gone to scale the highest of the three peaks - Trishul-1 - at a height of 7,120 metres from “camp 3”.
NIM principal Col Amit Bisht, who immediately left for the spot along with two trainers to oversee rescue operations, said:
“As per information received, among the six missing, one was a porter who was accompanying the naval expedition team of 20 members. The team left for the summit from Mumbai on September 3. On Friday morning, 10 of them had left to scale the peak from camp-3. However, after reaching a height of 6,700 metres, they were caught in an avalanche following which six members went missing,” Col Bisht said.
“Five of 10 naval personnel from the expedition team were rescued. The rescue team reached Joshimath, which is about 33 kms away from Mount Trishul. In view of bad weather, we have not been able to leave for the peak as of now,” he added. According to a Navy official, the remaining 15 remaining members of the expedition are also involved in the search and rescue operation.
Meanwhile, another rescue team, comprising personnel of the Indian Army, Indian Air Force and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), left for the spot to trace the missing personnel.
“Search and rescue operations for five members of the Indian Navy mountaineering expedition to Mt Trishul, caught in an avalanche near summit camp, are being progressed by the ground rescue team and helicopters from Army, Air Force & State Disaster Response Force (SDRF),” the Navy said in a statement.
Western Naval Command chief Vice Admiral R Hari Kumar had flagged off the expedition from INS Trishul on September 3. The event is part of the ‘Swarnim Vijay Varsh’ celebrations to commemorate 50 years of victory in the 1971 war with Pakistan. The theme of the expedition is “Trishul Yudhpoat Se Trishul Parvat Tak” (from Trishul warship to Trishul mountain).