Pithoragarh, June 5: A team of four Indo-Tibetian Border Police (ITBP) trekkers and five Indian Air Force (IAF) personnel reached at Nanda Devi Base Camp on Wednesday to locate the eight missing mountaineers. The team took off from Munsyari early morning today in an Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) to join in the search operation of missing foreign tourists. The four ITBP trekkers will be heli-dropped by IAF chopper at 18,000-20,000 feet near Nanda Devi East. Rescue Operations in Full Swing to Rescue Missing Mountaineers: DM Vijay Jogdande.

Team of ITBP trekkers and Indian Air Force personnel:

However, the rescue operation encountered technical problems in the morning. Till now, no bodies were recovered. According to reports, there is a possibility another avalanche which may pose a hurdle in the recovery operations. On Monday, ITBP released aerial images showing equipment and bodies of the missing mountaineers partially buried in snow.

The team reached Nanda Devi Base Camp:

The Mountaineers - four Britishers, two Americans, an Australian woman and an Indian were went missing while heading towards Nanda Devi East at around 20000 feet. They set to scale an unclimbed summit on May 13. The group led by British climber Martin Moran were attempting to scale a virgin peak in the region. They were expected to come back to the base camp on May 26. Meanwhile, the IAF on Sunday rescued four British mountaineers, which got separated from the main group from the avalanche-hit Nanda Devi peak in Uttarakhand.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 05, 2019 04:56 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).