Rescue team fails to recover 2nd Polish mountaineer’s body

Tribune News Service

Mussoorie, October 16

The search and rescue team from the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering (NIM) along with State Disaster Relief Force (SDRF) returned empty-handed today without recovering the body of the second Polish mountaineer who died while scaling the difficult Shivling peak in Uttarkashi district.

The joint rescue team of the SDRF and the NIM had on Friday found the body of Polish climber Lucas John (42), who is believed to have gone missing along with his colleague while scaling 6,543 m high Shivling peak. The body was brought for a post-mortem at the district headquarters last night. However, in the absence of the MRI scan facility in Uttarkashi, it was sent to the Doon Government Hospital for MRI scan before handing it over to the Polish authorities.

The NIM authorities say that the hope of recovering the body of 46-year-old mountaineer Greg Michael, was minimum. Both climbers were stuck while attempting to scale the Shivling peak near Gaumukh in Uttarkashi district a few days ago. The two were part of a five-member team from Poland that started from Gangotri on September 22 and without any problem reached the base camp at Tapovan on September 24. The problem arose when the duo tried to scale the summit through the most difficult route, which has not been tried before.

The incident came to light when the three other members of the group returned to Uttarkashi and informed the Polish embassy about the disappearance of two of the team.

Uttarkashi District Magistrate Dipendar Kumar Chaudhry said the team of Polish climbers was on an expedition under the banner of the Indian Mountaineering Federation and had reached the advanced camp on September 26 but after mountaineers George and Lucas fell ill, one member reached Uttarkashi on Tuesday and informed the Polish embassy about the incident.

The SDRF team along with the mountaineers began the search and rescue operation and was able to recover the body of a mountaineer while the other climber, who is believed to have fallen in a 300-metre deep gorge, remained untraceable. The NIM and SDRF team returned today without any success to recover the body of the other climber.

SDRF to trace bodies of 2013 disaster victims

Meanwhile, three teams of the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) have reached Kedarnath and adjoining areas to trace bodies of pilgrims who lost their lives during the Kedarnath tragedy in 2013. The team is led by IG (Garhwal) Sanjay Gunjyal.

It may be recalled that a trekking expedition team, under the aegis of Mountaineers and Trekkers Association, Uttarakhand, was sent to Kedarnath-Triyuginarayan trek route on October 2 in Kedarnath, Rudraprayag district. The team that returned on October 8 had apprised the state government of scattered skeletons in the valley.

Chief Minister Harish Rawat had directed the police and officials of Rudraprayag district administration to trace the bodies. Besides, the district administration was instructed to take DNA samples of the bodies and perform the last rites. Sources say there may be around 35 bodies.

IG (Garhwal) Sanjay Gunjyal, who is in Kedarnath, said the number of bodies could be ascertained only after the completion of the search operation. Every nook and corner of the valley would be searched, he added.