Savita Kanswal, who became the first Indian woman to climb Mount Everest and Mount Makalu in a record time of just 16 days earlier this year, is among those who died in the avalanche that hit the Draupadi Danda peak in Uttarakashi district on Tuesday, reported the Hindustan Times.
Twenty-six-year-old Kanswal was from Lonthru village in Uttarkashi district and was an instructor at the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering.
Forty-one persons, including 34 trainees and seven mountaineering instructors, were hit by the avalanche at 4 am on Tuesday as they returned from the mountain peak. On Wednesday, 14 mountaineers from Nehru Institute of Mountaineering were rescued, reported PTI.
The peak is located in the Gangotri range of the Garhwal Himalayas at a height of 5,670 metres.
Nehru Institute of Mountaineering Principal Colonel Amit Bisht had said on Tuesday that ten bodies were spotted out of which four had been recovered. The missing mountaineers are said to be stuck in the crevasse in Dokriani Bamak glacier, reported PTI.
Out of the 14 rescued, ten are trainees and four are instructors at the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering , Sub Divisional Magistrate, Bhatwari, Chattar Singh Chauhan told PTI. Meanwhile, six rescued mountaineers who sustained minor injuries in the avalanche were airlifted to Matli in Uttarkashi on Wednesday.
The National Disaster Response Force, the State Disaster Response Force, the Army and Indo-Tibetan Border Police personnel along with a team from the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering are jointly conducting the search and rescue operations in the region.
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