According to NIM officials, of the 16 bodies recovered so far, only two women – Naumi Rawat and Savita Kanswal — have been identified. Kanswal was the first Indian woman to climb Mount Everest and Mount Makalu in just 16 days and created a national record.
Officials on Monday said that five more bodies that were burried under an avalanche were brought to the ITBP camp in Matli, even as continuous snowfall hampered the efforts to locate two mountaineers still missing.
Uttarkashi District Magistrate Abhishek Ruhela said that the bringing back of five more bodies on Monday takes the number of bodies brought down from the summit camp so far to 26.
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"One body is still at the summit camp while search for the two missing mountaineers continues," he said.
On October 4, as many as 29 climbers, including 27 trainees and two instructors, who were part of an advanced mountaineering course at the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering had gone missing after they were struck by a massive avalanche at an altitude of 17,000 feet on their way back from Draupadi ka Danda-II peak.
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A search-and-rescue operation by the SDRF, ITBP, Army and IAF was launched on the same day. The operation is still in process.
"Continuous snowfall over the avalanche-hit site is hampering search operation. But efforts to find the two missing mountaineers continue despite bad weather. We hope the operation will soon be over," the DM said.
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According to NIM officials, of the 16 bodies recovered so far, only two women – Naumi Rawat and Savita Kanswal — have been identified. Kanswal, a resident of Uttarkashi, was the first Indian woman to climb Mount Everest and Mount Makalu in just 16 days and created a national record.
Meanwhile, desperate for news, the families of the trainees still missing are getting desperate by every hour, waiting for information from the NIM or the rescuers.