Uttarkashi. Efforts to locate missing climbers during Tuesday’s avalanche near Draupadi’s Danda peak in Uttarkashi were hampered due to heavy snowfall on Friday. District Disaster Management Officer Devendra Patwal said that the rescue operation by air can be resumed only after the weather improves.
According to the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering (NIM), 29 climbers of NIM were hit by an avalanche on Draupadi’s Danda-II peak at an altitude of 17,000 feet while returning after climbing.
According to NIM, bodies of 26 climbers have been recovered so far, while three are still missing. The bodies of four climbers have been handed over to their families, while efforts are on to bring down the bodies of the remaining climbers, the institute said. According to officials, the families of the mountaineers who reached Uttarkashi from different parts of the country are sad and upset as the search operation was disrupted due to bad weather. District Disaster Management Officer Devendra Patwal said rescue operations could be resumed by air only after the weather improved.
