A total of 16 bodies, including two instructors and 14 trainees, have been recovered so far after an avalanche hit the mountaineers on Draupadi Ka Danda-II in Uttarakhand's Uttarkashi district on October 4, said Nehru Institute of Mountaineering. On Thursday, rescuers recovered 12 bodies of trainee mountaineers, bringing the confirmed death toll to 16 from the avalanche, the institute added.
Dozens of people participating in a training course run by the institute were caught up in the avalanche that swept down the slopes of Draupadi Ka Danda II peak at a height of 17,000 feet. Over 20 mountaineers are still believed to be missing. The avalanche hit the peak when the team was returning after summiting.
According to the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering (NIM), the recovery of 12 more bodies takes the number of bodies retrieved so far to 16 after four were recovered on the day of the avalanche.
The Uttarakhand Police had said on its Facebook page on Wednesday that 10 bodies had been retrieved.
Earlier in the day, the State Emergency Operation Centre (SEOC) said, without accounting for the five bodies recovered, that of NIM's 61-member advance training course team, including trainees and instructors, four bodies had been recovered, 30 were safe and 27 still missing.
A 14-member team from High Altitude Warfare School based in Gulmarg in Jammu and Kashmir joined the rescue operation for the missing mountaineers on Thursday.
{{/usCountry}}A 14-member team from High Altitude Warfare School based in Gulmarg in Jammu and Kashmir joined the rescue operation for the missing mountaineers on Thursday.
{{/usCountry}}The team, which specialises in high-altitude rescue operations, will help in the joint efforts by the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and mountaineers from NIM in their efforts to find the missing climbers, the SEOC said.
(With inputs from agencies)