Mountaineering, trekking banned amid predicted bad weather in Uttarkashi

In the view of the safety of the trekking and mountaineering teams in Uttarkashi, district magistrate Abhishek Ruhela on Thursday instructed to keep the activities here closed for the next three days.

Ruhela has banned these activities in Uttarkashi from October 6 (today) to October 8 (Saturday). The DM's decision came after the meteorological department issued an alert for the rain and snow fall here. The India Meteorological Department on Monday predicted "Intense rainfall spell likely to commence over Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh from 05th October for subsequent 2-3 days and heavy rainfall spell over most parts of east and northeast India during next 3-4 days.

"Recently on Tuesday, a huge avalanche hit nearly 41 mountaineers and trainees of Nehru Institute of Mountaineering (NIM) at Draupadi's Danda-II mountain peak in Uttarkashi.

Earlier in the day, a team of team of experts from Gulmarg in Jammu and Kashmir joined the rescue operation with the team of State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), and Nehru Institute of Mountaineering (NIM).The officials of the Indian Air Force had previously informed that they had deployed two helicopters from Sarsawa and Bareilly for the rescue operation with which several mountaineers were rescued from Base Camp located at about 12,000 ft to Matli helipad.

A day after four mountaineers lost their lives in the avalanche in Uttarkashi with several still missing, the survivors narrated their horrific experiences on Wednesday. Deep Thakur, a trainee from Gujarat, who survived the accident while undergoing treatment at the district hospital, said that the avalanche came all of a sudden while he was climbing to Draupadi's Danda Peak for a summit at around 9.45 am, due to which he along with his companions fell into the crevasses about 60 feet deep, where he struggled between death and life for about 3 hours.

On Wednesday, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami also conducted an aerial inspection of the rescue and relief operation being carried out to find the mountaineering trainees who were hit by the avalanche and announced financial assistance to the kin of the deceased in the Uttarkashi and Pauri Garhwal tragedies which occurred on Tuesday.

"An amount of Rs 2 lakh for deaths, Rs one lakh for serious injuries, and Rs 50,000 for normal injuries will be given to all those affected by these two tragedies," an official informed.Besides the tragic incident of the avalanche in Uttarkashi, CM Dhami announced ex-gratia for the accident which claimed 32 lives and injured more than 20 people after a bus carrying a wedding procession fell into a gorge in the Birokhal area of Dhumakot in Pauri-Garhwal district on Tuesday night.