Uttarkashi avalanche: ‘Rescue operation underway, I am monitoring the situation,’ says Pushkar Singh Dhami

Representational image (Credits: PTI)

Dehradun: Chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Wednesday condoled the deaths of mountaineers in the horrific avalanche in the Droupadi`s Danda-II mountain peak. Speaking to ANI. "The rescue teams are working continuously and I am monitoring the situation", the chief minister said. 

Pertaining to the accident in Uttarkashi, chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said that according to information received 16 bodies have been recovered so far, and relief and rescue teams are working continuously on this. A team has also arrived from Kashmir. 

National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), and ITBP team are working. The district administration is also in the rescue operation. On Tuesday, about 41 trainees and instructors of the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering were hit by an avalanche. 

The institute said that the as per the training schedule, the climbers moved to the mountain on September 23 after the revision of rock-climbing training at NIM and Tekhla rock climbing training area.

On Wednesday, the survivors of the avalanche in Uttarkashi narrated their horrific experiences.

Deep Thakur, a trainee from Gujarat, who survived the accident while undergoing treatment at the district hospital, said that the avalanche came all of a sudden while he was climbing to Draupadi`s Danda Peak for a summit at around 9.45 am, due to which he along with his companions fell into the crevasses about 60 feet deep, where he struggled between death and life for about 3 hours.

Another survivor, Akash Lalvani, a trainee from Mumbai, told that he was only about 100 meters below the summit of Draupadi`s Danda and the only plan was to summit the peak and get down after being photographed there, because the weather was also clear. But the sudden avalanche has left them with unforgettable sorrow.

The Chief Minister underlined that this is a very sad incident. In such a situation, it is the responsibility of all of us that we can cooperate in the rescue and relief work from our level.

The Chief Minister said that he himself is monitoring the relief and rescue operations. In view of the safety of the trekking and mountaineering teams in Uttarkashi, district magistrate Abhishek Ruhela on Thursday banned trekking activities here for the next three days.

Ruhela has banned these activities in Uttarkashi from October 6 (today) to October 8 (Saturday) ahead of the India Meteorological Department`s alert for intense rainfall in the state over the upcoming days.