Gopeshwar: Two foreign mountaineers who were stranded at 6,015 meters for three days during their expedition to Chaukhamba peak in Uttarakhand, were successfully rescued on Sunday in a joint operation by IAF, SDRF and State Disaster Management Authority.
These agencies carried out a rescue operation over the past two days which led to safe evacuation of these mountaineers. According to the officials, the rescue team located and evacuated the stranded mountaineers late Saturday night, but due to the logistical constraints their transport to Jyotirmath was delayed until Sunday morning.
These mountaineers are UK and USA nationals
These two foreign mountaineers, Miss Michelle Theresa from the USA and Miss Fav Jane Manners from the UK, went missing on Thursday while trekking to Chaukhamba peak in Uttarakhand. They had permission from the Indian Mountaineering Training Association to climb Chaukhamba-3 peak valid from September 11 to October 18,” according to a Disaster Management official. On 3 October, they were stuck when a rockfall occurred during their ascent. It resulted in their mountaineering gear and belongings falling into the gorge, disabling them from moving further. They had informed their respective embassies in Delhi by sending a message via pager, and then, Indian Airforce requested the district administration for a helicopter rescue of these foreign nationals.
Indian Airforce initiated rescue operation on 4 October
Early in the morning on Saturday, 4 October, two Cheetah were dispatched to Jyotirmath in Chamoli district for rescue operation. These choppers carried aerial recce throughout the day to trace these mountaineers but failed. Then, under plan B, Uttarakhand SDRF teams launched a ground search operation on Saturday, focusing on the trek’s most challenging and risk-prone sections.
SDRF Commandant Arpan Yaduvanshi highlighted the expertise of the teams involved, said, “The joint search and rescue operation by the Indian Air Force and SDRF was successful thanks to our team’s expertise in high-altitude rescues,” he stated. He added that a team of 11 specialists was deployed for the mission, working from an advanced base camp at 4,900 meters, while the incident site was at 6,200 meters.”
French expedition group located stranded mountaineers
Rescue teams faced challenges in their efforts even though the SDRF and IAF were carrying out rescue operations on war footing. Meanwhile, it was discovered that a group of five mountaineers from France was close to these two stranded mountaineers. After the IMF and the district administration shared necessary information and possible locations of these mountaineers with the French group on Saturday, they also started searching for them. By evening, this French group found them. They informed the district administration that both were safe.
Cheetah helicopters lifted them on Sunday evening
At around 6 pm on Sunday, two Cheetah helicopters of the IAF airlifted these stranded mountaineers from their location and dropped them at Jyotirmath. According to Chamoli District Magistrate Sandeep Tiwari, “Our team established contact with these two missing trekkers late Saturday night, but due to the unavailability of helicopter services at night, we were able to rescue them at 6 pm on Sunday and bring them to Jyotirmath. After a brief stay at Jyotirmath, both the mountaineers have been sent to Delhi.”
