Bodies of Seven Missing Climbers Flown to Munsiyari from Nanda Devi East

Dream Wanderlust | July 3 , 2019

Dead bodies of seven missing climbers that were recovered from Nanda Devi East (7434m) on 23rd June, were brought down to Munsiyari this morning. Due to worrisome forecast of moonsoon weather, the search for one more missing climber that was being continued for 10 more days after first session of recovery, has been abandoned. 8-member team, led by renowned British Alpinist Martin Moran, had reportedly taken a detour from their previously aimed destination - Nanda Devi East, to the Peak-6477 - an unnamed and unclimbed peak, situated on the ridge of Nanda Khat (6611m).

ITBP members had brought down all bodies to an intermediate camp (4755m) for Indian Air Force to airlift the bodies further down from approximately 5334m where mortal remains of the climbers were spotted to be further recovered. In a conversation with Dream Wanderlust, Dr. Vijay Kumar Jogdande, the district magistrate of Pithoragh, Uttarakhand, has shed a light upon the ongoing occurrence on this recovery operation by Indo-Tibetan Border Police.
The excerpt is as follows:
"We are yet to identify all the bodies since no document is available here yet. It seems impossible to identify them from their deformed faces with the photos we now have.
We'll preserve the bodies until their families arrive to take custody. That is the routine procedure we use whenever we find somebody unknown. Right now, the bodies are at Pithoragh itself.
We had to abandon the search operation for one missing climber due to deteriorating monsoon weather. There's a high possibility of further avalanches as well. Therefore, it would have been difficult to keep the recovery team up there for longer period of time. 2-3 months later, once the monsoon ends, we'll be able to launch another operation. We've recovered the bodies of 1 female and remaining 6 male climbers."

Also Read: Alex Txikon Announces Winter Expedition to Annapurna 2024-25

However, a post mortem of all the bodies was supposed to take place today in Haldiwani, Uttarakhand, according to Indian mountaineer Anindya Mukherjee, who's the official organizer of the '80th Polish Anniversary Expedition Team' to Nanda Devi East. The bodies would further be dispatched to New Delhi after the routine procedure comes to an end.

Bodies arrive at Munsiyari (Photo Courtesy: Anindya Mukherjee)