NEW DELHI: The fourth day of search and rescue operations was hampered by severe weather after an avalanche slammed climbers in the Indian Himalayas, officials said on Friday. At least 26 people have been confirmed dead.
In the northern state of Uttarakhand, a group of 41 climbing students and their instructors were caught in a huge snowslide on Tuesday close to the summit of Mount Draupadi ka Danda II.
24 of the 26 dead that have been recovered so far were trainees, while the other two were instructors, according to a representative of the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering, a government organisation.
The official stated that three expedition members were still missing, but Friday’s search was cut short by poor weather.
Rescue efforts will go back again in the morning. He told the newspaper, “When the snow started to settle, I unlocked the ropes and started to rescue my teammates. But there wasn’t much we could do.
One of the trainee climbers who was saved, Sunil Lalwani, gave the instructors credit for many lives saved.
The Hindustan Times on Thursday cited Lalwani as saying, “We were 50-100 metres from the summit with our teachers ahead of us when suddenly an avalanche hit us and took everyone down.”
