Uttarakhand: Indian Army recovers bodies of missing soldiers from avalanche

The Indian Army recovered the bodies of four soldiers from Trishul Base Camp and rescued the missing soldiers from Trishul mountain in Uttarakhand's Chamoli district. The Chamoli Police said the Army used a helicopter, which landed in Sutol village fields for the rescue operation. State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) also reached the site to conduct rescue operations for the Garhwal Scout Soldiers through helicopter.

As per the Chamoli police sources statement, all the recovered bodies were taken to the Community Health Centre Joshimath. The sources further said that the post-mortem of the bodies of the four jawans is being conducted in Joshimath. Earlier in the last week of September, a German national who had gone trekking on Trishul mountain went missing.

Search called off earlier due to bad weather 

The IAF teams conducted searches on Saturday and spotted the bodies of several missing mountaineers. The bodies were found near the avalanche-hit Trishul peak in the Chamoli district of Uttarakhand. According to several reports, at least six mountaineers went missing; five of them were from the Navy and a guide. They were caught by a massive avalanche on Friday while climbing the 7,120 meters high Trishul peak. Joint teams of NIM, IAF, Garhwal scouts and SDRF conducted a search and rescue operation, but it had to be called off after the weather turned terrible. The rescue resumed the search with the help of helicopters on Saturday.

Apart from the rescue personnel, a helicopter was also pushed into service, the statement added. News agency PTI reported that a 20-member team of mountaineers of the Indian Navy had embarked on an expedition to the 7,120 metres Mount Trishul about 15 days ago. They faced the avalanche before reaching their destination on Friday morning. Earlier in April this year, two army soldiers sustained fatal casualties due to an avalanche in Sub Sector Haneef, Siachen Sector. 

(with ANI and PTI inputs)

Image: