Search ops begin as foreign climbers go missing on way to Nanda Devi peak

Pithoragarh: An eight-member team of mountaineers, including seven foreign nationals, has gone missing on its way to Nanda Devi East peak in Uttarakhand's Pithoragarh district.

The team, which includes seven mountaineers from the UK, US and Australia besides a liaison officer from the Indian Institute of Mountaineering, left Munsiyari on May 13 to scale the 7,434-metre Nanda Devi peak, and was scheduled to return to the base camp on Friday, May 31.

The district administration has sent a rescue team in search of them after they failed to return to the base camp.

The district administration sprang into action after people at the base camp informed the authorities late on Friday night about the team going missing en route to the peak.

The route to the Nanda Devi peak begins from Munsiyari, about 132 km from the district headquarters. From Munsiyari to the Nanda Devi base camp, mountaineers have to traverse a distance of about 90 km on foot.

The rescue team comprising State Disaster Response Fund or SDRF, police, and medical personnel has been sent to the Nanda Devi base camp in search of the climbers, Munsiyari sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) RC Gautam said.

The team was scheduled to reach the Nanda Devi base camp on Friday and Munsiyari on June 1, he said.

The sub-divisional magistrate said the rescue team will reach the base camp late on Saturday night and start rescue operation with the help of expedition team members at the base camp.