An Indian Army team for Everest expedition has recovered 18 bodies of mountaineers of various nationalities after their camps at an altitude of more than 17,000 feet were hit by an avalanche triggered by the earthquake. The Indian Army team and a group of mountaineers from Bengal are safe even though their camps in the vicinity were damaged.
Giving this information here on Saturday, Army officials said the a 20-strong mountaineering team led by Major Ranvir Singh Jamwal will take stock of the situation after two days and decide whether to go ahead with the expedition. As regards the rescue effort, they said the Indian team immediately swung into action and brought out bodies of 18 fellow mountaineers from camp 1 and 2. The Indian contingent will continue to assist in such efforts in the coming days as more mountaineers are feared buried under snow after the avalanche, they added.
Reports from Nepal tourism office indicated that the death toll could go up as more than 1,000 mountaineers including 400 foreigners were either stationed in the base camp or trying to scale the peak when the avalanche struck. The Indian expedition was undertaken to mark the 50 years of the first successful climb by the Indian Army to Everest. The mountaineers left for Kathmandu in the first week of April from New Delhi and as per schedule were to attempt to scale the peak in mid-May, officials said. Also, the team aimed to bring down more than 4,000 kg of non-biodegradable waste from the Everest as part of the global effort to keep this peak clean.
Meanwhile, West Bengal Chief Minister on Saturday announced that mountaineers from the State on an expedition to Mount Everest were safe. “Some good news. Rudra Haldar of West Bengal Police informs from Everest base camp that #Bengalclimbers are safe #earthquake #alerts,” Banerjee tweeted. She listed the names of 15 mountaineers. “These 15 mountaineers are safe at Everest, Annapurna and Cho You. Safe at Everest: Debraj Dutta, Ramesh Ch Roy, Anand Kr Ram, Md Ghazali Khan. Safe at Everest: Goutam Ghosh, Rudra Haldar, Malay Mukherjee, Sunita Hazra, Jyotsna Sen, Satyarup Siddhanta, Pradip Sahu, lipika Biswas. Safe at Annapurna: Dipankar Ghosh. Safe at Cho You (Tibet) — Debasis Biswas.”