Uttarakhand avalanche: Bodies of four naval personnel found; officer, porter still missing

The bodies of four naval mountaineers, were recovered on Saturday from the site of an avalanche at Mt Trishul in the western Kumaun region of Uttarakhand. The deceased Navy personnel are Lt Commander Rajnikant Yadav, Lt Commander Yogesh Tiwari, Lt Commander Anant Kukreti and sailor Hari Om, the officials said.

The team had gone missing after being hit by an avalanche on 1 October, said Nehru Institute of Mountaineering (NIM) Principal Colonel Amit Bisht. Earlier on Saturday, the bodies were spotted lying scattered near Mount Trishul during a search operation conducted with the help of a helicopter. Search is still on for another member of the team and an accompanying porter.  Ground rescue teams and helicopters from army, air force and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) have been pressed into action in the search operations.

Mortal remains of four out of five missing Naval mountaineers retrieved today -

Lt Cdr Rajnikant Yadav
Lt Cdr Yogesh Tiwari
Lt Cdr Anant Kukreti
Hariom MCPO II#CNS & all ranks of #IndianNavy express profound grief & heartfelt condolences to the families on this loss. pic.twitter.com/7ReNYNeFyf

— SpokespersonNavy (@indiannavy) October 2, 2021

A team of rescuers from the NIM, Uttarkashi, High Altitude Warfare School, Gulmarg, and Garhwal Scouts personnel too were engaged in the combined search and rescue operation, he said.

What happened

Five mountaineers of the Indian Navy and one porter went missing early on Friday morning after being caught in an avalanche on their way to the Trishul peak in Uttarakhand’s Bageshwar district. The adventure wing of the Indian Navy had informed the NIM authorities about the incident around 11 am on Friday and sought the help of the institute’s search and rescue team.

Reaction

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh took to Twitter to express his grief over the death of the Navy personnel:

Deeply anguished by the tragic death of four Navy personnel who were part of the Indian Navy mountaineering expedition to Mt. Trishul. The nation has not only lost precious young lives but also courageous soldiers in this tragedy.

— Rajnath Singh (@rajnathsingh) October 2, 2021

Army chief MM Naravane tweeted

General MM Naravane #COAS & all ranks of #IndianArmy express earnest grief and sincere condolences to #IndianNavy and families of four Naval mountaineers who lost their lives during the expedition to Mount Trishul in #Uttarakhand. pic.twitter.com/BsNRS2T2x5

— ADG PI - INDIAN ARMY (@adgpi) October 2, 2021

Chief of Defence Staff Bipin Rawat to shared his condolences:

Condolence Message of General Bipin Rawat #CDS

"I express profound grief and condolences on the unfortunate incident which caused casualties of four Naval mountaineers due to Avalanche during the expedition to Mount Trishul" in #Uttarakhand”. pic.twitter.com/MEBOsvPkNJ

— ADG PI - INDIAN ARMY (@adgpi) October 2, 2021

Expedition

The 20-member expedition was flagged off at Mumbai on 3 September and 10 climbers had started the final leg of their journey to the summit of Mt Trishul (7,120 m) on Friday morning but were caught in the avalanche.

The expedition was flagged-off by Vice Admiral R Hari Kuma r, chief of the western naval command on 3 September from INS Trishul in Mumbai. Hari Kumar had also handed over a ceremonial ice axe to the team leader and wished the team a successful summitting of Mount Trishul-I peak.

The event is being conducted as part of ‘Swarnim Vijay Varsh’ celebrations to commemorate 50 years of the victory in the 1971 war. The expedition is led by Commander Vishnu Prasad and there are 19 members in the team.

“The team had gone to Delhi from Mumbai and then to Sutol in Chamoli. They started their trek to base camp on 14 September,” the naval spokesperson said.

Mount Trishul, which means trident, a weapon associated with lord Shiva, is a group of three Himalayan peaks.

The naval personnel

The deceased included veteran and record-setting climbers . Lt Cdr Yogesh Tiwari who had climbed Mt Bhagirathi (6,512m) at the age of 13 and climbed three peaks within four months in 2015. He held a Limca record for cycling across 11 Himalayan passes.

Lt Cdr Rajnikant Yadav had in 2013 set a cycling record along with Tiwari, doing a round trip from Kochi-based INS Venduruthy to INS Rajali in Arakkonam in Tamil Nadu, covering 1,423km in 94 hours.

Lt Cdr Anant Kukreti was among the Navy personnel who scaled Mount Everest in 2017.

With input from agencies