By Raju Vernekar
Mumbai, Oct 2:
Five members of the Indian Navy mountaineering expedition to Mount Trishul I ((height 7120 m) located in Uttarakhand have been caught in an avalanche near summit camp.
Besides Indian Navy personnel, one porter is also stated to be trapped in the avalanche that occurred in the early hours of Friday morning.
The search and rescue efforts are underway by the ground rescue team and helicopters from Army and Air Force and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), a Defence spokesman said here.
A team of the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering in Uttarkashi led by Colonel Amit Bisht has left for the peak to join the rescue operations. However, due to inclement weather, the team has been stranded at Joshi math. It is likely to resume search operations soon, reports reaching here said.
Ten climbers had started their approach on the final leg to the summit on Friday morning but were caught in an avalanche short of the summit. While 5 of the 10 climbers are safe, Search and Rescue operations for the remaining 5 are on in coordination with the Indian Army and Indian Air Force, Commander Mehul Karnik stated.
The expedition is led by commander Vishnu Prasad. It has 17 members drawn from various units of the Indian Navy. The team commenced trek from Chamoli district to the base camp on September 14 after acclimatization and logistics preparations.
The expedition was flagged off by Vice Admiral R Hari Kumar, Flag Officer Commanding in Chief, Western Naval Command from INS Trishul in Mumbai, on September 03. It is part of “Swarnim Vijay Varsha” commemorating 50 years of the victory of India over Pakistan in the 1971 war. The theme of the expedition is ‘Trishul Youdhpoat Se Trishul Parvat Tak’.(from the warship” Trishul” to Mount Trishul).
Trishul is a group of three Himalayan mountain peaks of western Kumaun (Uttarakhand), with the highest (Trishul I) reaching 7120 m. The three peaks resemble a trident-”Trishul” in Hindi and Sanskrit. The trident is the weapon of Lord Shiva. The Trishul group forms the southwest corner of the ring of peaks enclosing the Nanda Devi Sanctuary, about 15 kilometers (9 mi) west-southwest of Nanda Devi itself.
The three peaks are named Trishul I, Trishul II, and Trishul III. The main peak, Trishul I, was the first peak over 7120 m (22,970 ft) to have climbed in 1907. Mount Trishul falls in the Bageshwar district of Uttarakhand.
