Avalanche claims several mountaineers in Uttarakhand
8 rescued while several missing, say police; Rajnath ‘deeply anguished by the loss of precious lives,’ sends condolences to relatives of the victims
At least 10 trainee mountaineers died on Tuesday ater being swept away by an avalanche in the Himalayas in the northern Indian state of Utarakhand, media reports said, as rescuers searched for 11 others missing.
Two of the trainers are said to be residents of Utarkashi.
The avalanche hit the team at 9am at an altitude of 16,000 feet.
A group of 29 people was hit by an avalanche on a mountain peak located in the Gangotri range of the Garhwal Himalayas on Tuesday morning, said Utarakhand state police chief Ashok Kumar.
He said rescuers pulled eight survivors from the snow and took them to a local hospital for treatment.
The Press Trust of India news agency reported 10 had died.
All the missing were undergoing training at a mountaineering institute but far from the avalanche site, Kumar said.
Utarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said the National Disaster Response Force and the Indian army deployed teams to help with rescue efforts.
Defense Minister Rajnath Singh said he was “deeply anguished.” “Deeply anguished by the loss of precious lives due to landslide which has struck the mountaineering expedition carried out by the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering (NIM) in Utarkashi. My condolences to the bereaved families who have lost their loved ones,” tweeted Defence Minister Singh ater the tragic incident.
“Spoke to cm uta rak hand, shri@pushkardh ami and took stock of the situation. Rescue operations are underway to help the mountaineers who are still trapped,” he tweeted.
Singh has instructed the Indian Air Force to intensify relief and rescue operation for the mountaineers.
“I have instructed the IAF (Indian Air Force) to mount the rescue and relief ops. Praying for everyone’s safety and well-being,” Singh said in the subsequent tweet.
Simultaneously, relief and rescue operations are being carried out by the district administration, NDRF, SDRF, Army and ITBP personnel along with a team of NIM. The IAF has deployed two Cheetah helicopters for rescue and relief operations.
Other helicopters in the fleet have been kept on standby for any further requirement.
“It has happened for the first time in the history of Indian mountaineering that such a large group of trainee mountaineers has been killed in an avalanche,” said Amit Chowdhary, an official at the International Climbing and Mountaineering Federation and a former IAF officer.
The NIM had launched training for basic and advanced courses on Sept.22 at the Dokrani glacier.
A total of 122 people, including 97 trainees, 24 trainers and an officer of NIM, were involved in the basic training, while 53 people, including 44 trainees and nine trainers, were part of the advanced course.
Officials said, the students of Basic and Advanced Course running near Bhukki of NIM Utarkashi had reached Draupadi’s Danda on Tuesday morning for mountaineering training.
The height of the mountain is about 5006 metres where the trainees are trapped due to the sudden avalanche.
Disaster Management Officer Devendra Patwal said that there were a total of 175 people including trainers and trainees in the training batch from which 29 people have been trapped.
Avalanches are common in the mountainous areas of Utarakhand.
Last year, a glacier burst in the state resulted in a flash flood that let more than 200 people dead.
The resulting wall of water and debris barrelled down a tight valley, destroying bridges, roads and hiting two hydroelectric power plants.
More than 2,000 members of the military, paramilitary groups and police were involved in the search-and-rescue operations in the Uttarakhand.
Officials said two dams were emptied to stop the flood waters from reaching the holy towns of Rishikesh and Haridwar.
Floods in 2013 in Utarakhand, which borders Tibet and Nepal, killed 6,000 people, and led to calls for a review of development projects in the state.