'Operations on to rescue missing foreign mountaineers'

After reports arrived that few members of a mountaineering expedition group were missing from Nanda Devi trek, the District Magistrate said that the administration is taking all the steps necessary to locate and help the mountaineers. Reportedly, the administration had contacted the Indo-Tibetan Border Police for further help.

Pithoragarh:District Magistrate of Pithoragarh, Vijay Kumar Jogdande, on Saturday said that the administration is taking all the steps necessary to locate and help the mountaineers who are missing from the Nanda Devi trek.

Members of the mountaineering expedition

"We received reports that few members of a mountaineering expedition for Nanda Devi East by Himalayan Run and Trekker organisation on May 31 were missing. A missing report for these mountaineers came to us yesterday. We immediately dispatched a team under SDM, Munshiari, which has team members from SDRF, medical team and locals for tracking," Jogdande said here.

• An eight-member team of mountaineers, including seven foreign nationals, has gone missing on its way to Nanda Devi East peak in Pithoragarh district in Uttarakhand
• The team which has seven mountaineers from the U.K., the U.S. and Australia left Munsiyari on May 13 to scale the 7,434-metre Nanda Devi peak

Jogdande added that the administration had contacted the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and help from the forces too was being provided.

"We also contacted the 14th battalion of Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP). A search and rescue team of the ITBP started rescue operations at 6 am in the morning. They have reached Martoli village which is approximately 25 kilometres away from the Nanda Devi," Jogdande said.

The DM added that the administration wanted to conduct an aerial survey to locate the missing mountaineers but the attempt failed due to unfavourable weather conditions.

List of missing members

"We also wanted to conduct an aerial survey to pinpoint their location. A helicopter took to the air but had to be recalled due to bad weather," he said.