With the arrival of monsoon in some parts of Uttarakhand and the consistent deterioration of weather conditions in Pithoragarh district has hampered the recovery of the eighth mountaineer’s body. Meanwhile, the other seven recovered bodies have been shifted to a lower area by the mountaineers of Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) on Thursday, from where they will be lifted to the nearby ITBP location in a couple of days.
Official spokesman of ITBP, Vivek Pandey said, “The shifting of recovered bodies to the lower area has been done, from where it will be easier for helicopters to lift the bodies to the nearest ITBP location. From there, the bodies will again be lifted by a different chopper to Pithoragarh, where the bodies will be handed over to district administration for necessary formalities.”
When asked about the search for the eighth mountaineer he said, “The seven bodies of mountaineers which has been recovered by ITBP till now were found roped together and the eighth mountaineer is believed to be away from them. His position when the avalanche hit them has been difficult to ascertain at the mishap site. The team has carried out multiple attempts in the past four days, but could not locate the mountaineer’s body. Also, due to bad weather and poor visibility the search efforts have been hampered.”
It is pertinent to mention here that among the seven recovered bodies, there is one woman climber and one Indian climber. Speaking on behalf of IMF, Colonel HS Chauhan said, “Our team is still at camp I. The weather up there is getting bad. We have written to the state government for them to be lifted from there with the help of through a chopper. They will not be able to stay there for a longer period of time. We can only say something for certain in a couple of days.”
According to the sources, the IMF team will not be able to move from camp I unless provided some outside help or the weather become favourable.