Two foreign mountaineers rescued by IAF
The Indian Air Force (IAF) teams with the help of choppers on Sunday recovered two foreign mountaineers who were isolated at an altitude of over 6000 metres for three days during the voyage to Chaukhamba-3 peak after their equipment and bags slipped into a valley.
The two mountaineers who were rescued were identified as Michelle Theresa Dvorak from the United States and Fay Jane Manners from the United Kingdom and when they got stranded the officials said that they were 995 km away from the Chaukhamba- 3 peak km.
They were a part of a foreign mountaineering expedition by the Indian Mountaineering Foundation. The Chaukhamba peak in the Garhwal Himalayas is a huge mountain, and seems to be shaped like four pillars. It has four peaks in a row that runs from northeast to southwest. The highest peak, Chaukhamba 1, lies on top of the Gangotri Glacier, at a height of 7,138 m. The other three peaks stand to a height of 7,088 metres, 6995 metres and 6,854 metres, respectively.
Picture credit: Hindustan Times
On Friday, two Indian Air Force (IAF) helicopters were positioned to recover the two women, but they came back with zero clue after a daylong operation, which went into action after the Chamoli district magistrate received a request from the Indian Mountaineering Foundation (IMF) for their search. On Thursday the two of them forwarded a pager to their liaison officer from the IMF before the communication with them was lost. The operation with the help of choppers continued on Saturday. Furthermore, the state disaster response force (SDRF) executed an expert mountaineering team to the advanced base camp which was at 4900 metres to begin a ground search operation.
The inspector general of police (SDRF) Ridhim Agarwal stated that during the initial stage with the help of helicopters an aerial search was executed, but due to many challenges and consequences of the inaccessible terrain, a team of four SDRF personnel was forwarded by helicopter at the Advanced Base Camp at 4900 metres. From this morning onwards, the SDRF team began heading towards the coordinates provided by the mountaineers to search for them. Meanwhile, an Indian Air FForce rescue team headed towards a parallel search operation using choppers recovered the mountaineers and airlifted them to Joshimath. They are safe and sound.
The four member SDRF team that was transmitted ahead of the Advance Base Camp is also being brought to Joshimath by the Army choppers said by Commandant, SDRF Arpan Yaduvanshi.
Cases of situations where mountaineers were trapped and killed
There are so many situations which arrive, in which mountaineers and trekkers have lost their lives in the state, after they went missing or got trapped due to extreme weather conditions during mountaineering and trekking.
In June, a trekking team which consists of 22- members out of which nine people were killed after they were caught in a blizzard on the Sahastra Tal trek in Uttarkashi district. On October 5 last year, a team from the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering found the body of a mountaineer, it was found a year after the person went missing which was followed by a snow avalanche incident at Dokrani Bamak glacier in Uttarakashi district. On October 22, a team consisting of 41 people- 34 trainees and seven trainers- were hit by an avalanche near the Dokrani Bamak glacier when they were returning from a high- altitude navigation from the Mount Draupadi ka Danda 2 peak of 5,670 metres. Twenty seven people lost their lives in this incident.
Picture credit: ETV Bharat
In May 2022, an IAF chopper rescued seven trekkers who were being stranded on the Pandav Shera trek area in Rudraprayag district whose height is of 4,500 metres. In October 2022, one trekker lost his life on Rudranath trekking route located at an altitude of over 3,300 metres in Chamoli district. In June 2021, SDRF rescued two trekkers, which also includes one foreigner from Slovenia, from Hemkund Ghangaria trek route in Chamoli district. In June 2019, a team consisting of eight mountaineers who were approaching the summit near Nanda Devi East in Pithoragarh were killed after they were attacked by an avalanche.
