Uttarkashi avalanche: SDRF, ITBP, NIM teams rescue mountaineers

Giving information to ANI, SDRF Commandant Manikant Mishra said that the three teams would first reach the Intermediate Camp and 1.5 km away at the avalanche site tomorrow to rescue 26 trainees and four bodies trapped at the avalanche site.

"The Indian Air Force had deployed 2 helicopters from Sarsawa and Bareilly for the rescue operation. Several mountaineers were rescued from Base Camp located at about 12,000 ft to Matli helipad", said the IAF officials.

A day after four mountaineers lost their lives in the avalanche in Uttarkashi with several still missing, the survivors narrated their horrific experiences.

Meanwhile, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Wednesday conducted an aerial inspection of the rescue and relief operation being carried out to find the mountaineering trainees who were hit by an avalanche yesterday in Uttarkashi.

In a tragic accident on Tuesday, four mountaineers lost their lives in the avalanche at Draupadi's Danda-II mountain peak in Uttarkashi on Tuesday while rescue operations were on for others, confirmed the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering (NIM).

14 have been rescued so far. The mountaineers, who were rescued reached Matli in Uttarkashi today where they are being provided with first aid treatment. These people were evacuated via chopper to the 12th Battalion ITBP 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 said.

On Tuesday, about 41 trainees and instructors of the Nehru Mountaineering Institute were in the grip of Draupadi's avalanche in Danda of Dokrani Glacier at an altitude of more than 5,000 meters. Out of which, according to Nehru Mountaineering Institute, 27 people are missing and bodies of 4 people have been found and 14 people have been safely rescued and brought to Uttarkashi district headquarters.

Deep Thakur, a trainee from Gujarat, who survived the accident while undergoing treatment at the district hospital, told ANI that as he was climbing to Draupadi's Danda Peak for a summit at around 9.45 am, suddenly the avalanche came. Due to this, he fell into the crevasses about 60 feet deep with his companions, where he struggled between death and life for about 3 hours.

Thakur told that a NIM instructor took him out of the crevice and saved his life.

Another survivor, Akash Lalvani, a trainee from Mumbai, told that he was only about 100 meters below the summit of Draupadi's danda, the only plan was to summit the peak and get down after being photographed above, because the weather was also clear. But the sudden avalanche has left an unforgettable sorrow.

In another tragic incident, 25 people were found dead and more than 20 people sustained injuries after a bus carrying over 40 people of a wedding procession fell into a gorge in the Birokhal area of Dhumakot in Pauri-Garhwal district on Tuesday night, Deputy General of Police Ashok Kumar told ANI.

Police and state disaster response force (SDRF) rescued 21 people following an overnight operation and the injured have been admitted to nearby hospitals, he added.

Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Wednesday announced financial assistance to the kin of the deceased in the Uttarkashi and Pauri Garhwal tragedies which occurred on Tuesday."An amount of Rs 2 lakh for deaths, Rs one lakh for serious injuries, and Rs 50,000 for normal injuries will be given to all those affected by these two tragedies," officials informed. (ANI)