Indian authorities recover bodies of seven climbers from mountain

24/6/2019 12:18

        Police on Sunday retrieved the
        bodies of seven climbers killed in an avalanche near India's
        second-highest mountain late last month and are still looking
        for an eighth, officials said on Sunday.
        
        The eight climbers - four from Britain, two from the United
        States, and one each from Australia and India - were reported
        missing on May 31 after they failed to return to their base camp
        near Nanda Devi.
        
        The climbers were attempting to scale an unnamed, previously
        unclimbed 6,477 metre (21,250 feet) peak near Nanda Devi when
        their route was hit by a "sizeable avalanche", the company that
        organised the expedition, Moran Mountain, has said.
        
        The paramilitary Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) Force was
        leading the mission to bring the bodies to the town of
        Pithoragarh in Uttarakhand state.
        
        A 20-member ITBP team, which started out on foot last week,
        on Sunday reached the area where the bodies were suspected to be
        missing, said Vivek Kumar Pandey, a spokesman for the ITBP.
        
        "After a five-hour operation, they have recovered the bodies
        of seven climbers," Pandey said.
        
        The recovered bodies, which include that an Indian and a
        female climber, are yet to be formally identified, he said.
        
        The search operation will continue for the last body,
        Pithoragrah district’s top civil servant Vijay Kumar Jogdande
        said.
        
        It is yet to be decided whether the team will need to
        airlift out the bodies that are currently at 18,000 feet, Pandey
        said.
        
        Almost three weeks ago, some of the bodies were spotted by
        Indian air force helicopters but the difficult terrain and poor
        weather conditions had prevented recovery.
        
        Officials had said the location of the bodies suggested that
        they may have changed course and taken a route they had not
        initially planned.
        
        Indian authorities had previously identified the eight
        missing as expedition leader Martin Moran, John McLaren, Rupert
        Whewell and Richard Payne, all from Britain, Anthony Sudekum and
        Ronald Beimel from the United States, Ruth McCance from
        Australia, and liaison officer Chetan Pandey from the Indian
        Mountaineering Foundation.
        
        It has been one of the deadliest climbing seasons in the
        Himalayas for several years.
        
        More than 20 people have been killed in the mountains,
        including at least 11 on Mount Everest, the world's highest peak
        that has seen several fatalities in 2019 due to poor weather
        conditions, inexperienced climbers and overcrowding.
        
        Nanda Devi, at 7,816 metres (25,643 feet), and its sister
        mountain, Nanda Devi East, are among the world's most
        challenging peaks and only a handful of people have climbed
        them.