4 bodies found; many trapped in Uttarakhand avalanche

The avalanche occurred at around 8.45am near the Dokrani Bamak glacier, while the group of advanced trainees and instructors was returning after high-altitude navigation from the Mount Draupadi ka Danda 2 peak.

Dehradun: At least four people were killed, and at least 20 others were missing till late on Tuesday night after an avalanche struck a group of 41 trainee mountaineers and instructors from the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering (NIM) in the upper reaches of Uttarkashi on Tuesday morning, according to several officials aware of the developments.

SDRF team members leave from Sahastradhara helipad to rescue the trainees trapped in an avalanche in Draupadi's Danda-2 mountain peak in Dehradun on Tuesday. (PTI)

Seventeen members of the group were rescued, according to a senior State Disaster Relief Force (SDRF) officer, till the time of going to print.

The avalanche occurred at around 8.45am near the Dokrani Bamak glacier, while the group of advanced trainees and instructors was returning after high-altitude navigation from the Mount Draupadi ka Danda 2 peak (5,670 metres). It was not immediately known what age group they belong to and from where.

A statement issued by NIM said that a scheduled advanced mountaineering course – it included a group of 34 trainees and seven mountaineering instructors – began on September 14, 2022. After undergoing more than a week of rock-climbing training, this group shifted to the mountains and arrived at the NIM “advanced base camp” on September 23, where it underwent ice and snow craft training. At around 4am on October 4, the course moved to High Altitude and Height Gain training at the Mount Draupadi ka Danda 2 peak, and as they were descending at around 8.45am, they were caught in the avalanche.

The weather was clear when the avalanche took place, state officials said. An India Meteorological Department official added, “Till 8.30 am, no IMD observatory in Uttarakhand recorded any rainfall.”

Officials of the Uttarkashi District Disaster Management Centre said that the avalanche took place near the Dokrani Bamal glacier in the Bhatwadi tehsil, 22km from the closest road in Bhukki. Uttarakhand SDRF commandant Manikant Mishra told HT, “We have recovered the bodies of four people, 20 are still missing, and 17 are returning to NIM base camp.”

The identities of the deceased were not immediately as the same were not issued by the state government.

PTI reported NIM’s principal, Colonel Amit Bisht, as saying that 10 bodies in total have been spotted, with four of them recovered. HT could not independently verify this with local relief and rescue authorities, but there were fears that the toll from the incident could rise.

Uttarkashi district magistrate Abhishek Ruhella said, “We are regularly monitoring the situation from the situation along with NDRF, SDRF and Army. Four death have been reported so far. Once the weather is clear, we will restart the rescue operation.”

Soon after getting information of the avalanche, Uttarakhand chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said, state and central agencies swung into relief and rescue action. “Rapid relief and rescue operations underway by the district administration, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), State Disaster Response Force, Army and Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) personnel,” Dhami said on Tuesday morning.

A five-member team of SDRF and three trainers of NIM were pushed for rescue operation throught a private helicopter, which returned to Dehradun later. An ALH chopper from Air Force station in Bareilly is also deployed at ITBP helipad in Matli, Uttarkashi.

Defence minister Rajnath Singh also spoke to Dhami on the phone and said that he had instructed the Indian Air Force to mount a rescue operation, and that he was deeply anguished by the loss of lives.

Two IAF helicopters from its base camp in Sarsawa in Saharanpur surveyed the area and are currently deployed at Army helipad in Harsil.

Home minister Amit Shah also said that he had spoken to senior officials about rescue operations, and called the incident “deeply painful”.

In the evening, Dhami said that he had received news of deaths in the tragedy. “God should give their families the courage to bear the loss. My condolences are with the families,” Dhami said.

People involved in relief and rescue work said that operations were hampered as weather began to worsen after 4pm on Tuesday. Devendra Singh Patwal, district disaster management officer, Uttarkashi, said, “We will begin the rescue operation once the weather is clear. Due to the high altitude, we are also facing challenges in communication.” State officials said the hostility of the terrain itself, with deep crevasses, and very little accessibility was also a major challenge.

BJP leader Colonel Ajay Kothiyal (retired), a former principal of NIM, said, “Snowfall, poor visibility and accessibility is a major challenge in the rescue operation, as it takes two days to reach the area by trekking. Communication only takes place through satellite phones at NIM base camp.”

IMD has also sounded a red alert for Uttarakhand beginning October 7, with a forecast of heavy to very heavy rainfall in several places across the state, with an “orange alert” for October 6, and a “yellow alert” for rainfall accompanied by lightning at some places in the state for October 5.

Officials of NIM, considered among the best mountaineering institutes in the country with an intake of 1,500 students a year across several courses, said that the incident was a rarity. “In more than five decades of training courses, this is the first time that such incident has happened. Avalanches in this particular region don’t generally occur,” registrar Dr Vishal Ranjan said.

Arvind Raturi, who was trained at NIM between 2008 and 2011, and later became an instructor from 2012 to 2016, and in that process scaled Draupadi ka Danda 2 on three occasions, said that this was the first such avalanche he has seen. “Draupadi Danda 2 peak has been part of the advance training course for several years and never before has this happened. This is likely to be a slab avalanche which occurs when large chunks of snow or ice slides down the mountain face, giving no time to escape,” he said.

With little information available, Raturi said that he was worried about the fate of Pitambar Chandola from Tharali in Chamoli district who was part of the advanced course as a guest instructor. “There is no news about his well-being,” Raturi said.

The avalanche that hit the mountain on Tuesday morning was the fourth in two weeks in the region, after three in the Kedarnath area between September 22 and October 2. There were no casualties in any of the three previous avalanches.

Dr Kalachand Sain, director of the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, said these avalanches require scientific study to ascertain why they are taking place so frequently.

“As per our meteorological data, the avalanche in Uttarkashi may have happened because of the development of a crack, which could be because of man-made factors. The earlier avalanches in Kedarnath were fairly natural and may have been caused because of the early accumulation of snow at the peaks. But the actual reason can only be ascertained after detailed scientific study,” Sain said.