Team from High Altitude Warfare School joins rescue operation for missing climbers

Dehradun (U'khand): A 14-member team from High Altitude Warfare School based in Gulmarg in Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday joined the rescue operation for the mountaineers missing after an avalanche in Uttarakhand's Uttarkashi district.

The team, which specialises in high-altitude rescue operations, reached the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering (NIM) basecamp to help in the rescue efforts, the State Emergency Operation Centre here said.

The team will join the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and mountaineers from NIM in their efforts to find the missing climbers.

The avalanche hit Draupadi Ka Danda II peak at a height of 17,000 feet on Tuesday when the team was returning after summiting. According to NIM, the team included 34 mountaineering trainees and seven instructors.

The State Emergency Operation Centre said of NIM's 61-member advance training course team, including trainees and instructors, four bodies have been recovered, 30 are safe and 27 still missing.

However, Uttarakhand Police on its Facebook page had claimed on Wednesday that 10 bodies had been retrieved.