Lucky that we could breathe, says trainee mountaineer rescued after avalanche
Two instructors including 26-year-old Savita Kanswal, who became the first Indian woman to climb Mount Everest and Mount Makalu in just 16 days, are among those who were killed in the avalanche
Dehradun: Aakash Lalwani, one of the 14 mountaineers to have been rescued after an avalanche trapped them in the upper reaches of Uttarkashi on Tuesday, said the wall of snow took everyone down in a matter of seconds and threw them into a crevasse. “We were lucky that we could somehow breathe,” Lalwani, who was admitted to Uttarkashi district hospital said.
Lalwani spoke with gratitude about his instructors from the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering (NIM) who did everything to rescue them. “It’s because of them that we are alive today,” he said.
Two instructors including 26-year-old Savita Kanswal, who became the first Indian woman to climb Mount Everest and Mount Makalu in just 16 days, are among those who were killed in the avalanche. The Uttarakhand Police said on Twitter that 10 bodies have been retrieved so far.
They were part of a group of 41 trainee mountaineers and instructors caught in Tuesday morning’s incident near the summit of Mount Draupadi ka Danda-II in Uttarakhand. The group was returning from Mount Draupadi ka Danda 2 peak.
Deep Thakur, another trainee of an advanced course from Gujarat, said, “We were 700 metres away from the summit and climbing with a fixed rope when we were hit by an avalanche and we were stuck mid-way in a crevasse. I was trapped in the crevasse for two hours. It was a hard time for us and we struggled for our life. Our instructors saved our lives.”
Chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami conducted an aerial inspection of the area on Wednesday and later told reporters that 27 climbers are still missing.
Families of those still missing are going through a tough time, many are rushing to Uttarkashi from different parts of the country. Atanu Dhar, a trainee from Delhi, is one of them.
Atanu’s brother Ankit said he last spoke to Atanu on October 1 through satellite phone at NIM base camp when he said they would ascend the following day. On Tuesday, Ankit said he was scrolling through social media when he came to know about the avalanche in Uttarkashi. “We immediately phoned the institution, but there was no information about him. Though (the institute) has issued helpline numbers, we are getting no help,” Ankit added, saying he was on his way to Uttarkashi on Wednesday afternoon.
“His passion for climbing took him to enrol in the mountaineering course at NIM, which is a prestigious institute,” Ankit said.