The Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) on Sunday, 23 June, recovered seven bodies believed to be that of foreign mountaineers who had gone missing on way to the Nanda Devi East peak in Uttarakhand last month, an officer said, according to PTI.
The search for the eighth missing tourist is still continuing, but is facing obstruction due to snowfall.
“There's snowfall in Nanda Devi area since morning. The team tried to go ahead but no progress of search operation can be made for the eighth missing mountaineer today due to poor visibility. It is likely to start tomorrow again if weather permits,” ITBP said on Monday, 24 June, ANI reported.
“The bodies are kept at an advanced camp from which they'll be brought to Nanda Devi base camp and then to Pithoragarh. The concerned embassies will be informed after postmortem,” the Pithoragarh District Magistrate told ANI.
A 10-member ITBP team of climbers dug out the seven bodies, including a woman mountaineer, which were buried under the snow on the western ridge of the peak towards the Pindari glacier, said Deputy Inspector General (Kumaon range) APS Nimbadia, PTI reported.
The bodies have not been identified yet and it will be possible only after they are brought down to the base camp, Nimbadia said.
The DIG said a search was on for another body as there were eight members in the team, which was led by well-known British mountaineer Martin Moran who had already scaled the 7,434-metre-high peak twice in the past, according to PTI.
Indian Air Force (IAF) helicopters also assisted in the operation named ‘Daredevil’, the officer added.
The mountaineers had left Munsyari on 13 May to scale the peak in Pithoragarh district, but did not return to the base camp on the appointed date of 25 May, PTI reported.
The team included seven members from the UK, Australia and the US, besides a liaison officer from the Indian Mountaineering Foundation.
An IAF helicopter had spotted five bodies on way to an unscaled peak adjoining Nanda Devi East during a search on 3 June. But immediate recovery of the bodies was not possible because of inclement weather at the peak.
The other members of the team are John McLaren, Richard Payne and Rupert Havel (from the UK); Ruth Macrain (Australia); Anthony Sudekum and Rachel Bimmel (US); and liaison officer Chetan Pandey.
(With inputs from PTI and ANI.)
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