Uttarakhand avalanche: bodies of 3 Navy officers, sailor found, 2 missing

The Defence Ministry on Saturday informed that the bodies of four Indian Navy officers and a sailor have been recovered from the site of an avalanche at Mount Trishul in Uttarakhand. Rescuers are looking for a fifth naval climber and a porter, who went missing after the incident.

The deceased Navy personnel are Lt Commander Rajnikant Yadav, Lt Commander Yogesh Tiwari, Lt Commander Anant Kukreti and sailor Hari Om

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh tweeted to condole the death of the courageous soldiers who were on a mountaineering expedition.

A rescue team from Uttarkashi-based Nehru Institute of Mountaineering (NIM) led by Colonel Amit Bisht is searching for the missing men, news agency PTI reported quoting the institute. The institute has said bad weather in the area is slowing down the rescue team operation.

A combined team of Army, Air Force and the State Disaster Response Force are also looking for the missing men.

The 20-member expedition was flagged off at Mumbai on September 3 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.