Uttarakhand avalanche: 8 mountaineers rescued, rescue operation on

New Delhi: Eight of the 29 trainee mountaineers, who were trapped in the Uattarkhand avalanche on Tuesday, have been rescued and taken to the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) Hospital for treatment, the ITBP said.
"Eight mountaineers were immediately rescued by the team. However, there has been no clarity on deaths," Vivek Pandey, ITBP's PRO told ANI, adding that the group was on a mission to reach Draupadi's Danda-2 mountain peak, located at 18,000 feet when an avalanche at around 8 am on Tuesday. The ITBP, National Disaster Response Force, State Disaster Response Force along with local police started the rescue operation as soon as they received the information about the incident.
"All injured and stranded persons will be taken to a helipad at almost 13,000 ft first, and then they will be brought down to Matli helipad. Will be using ITBP hospital," Pandey added.
Stating that further updates into the matter are awaited, the ITBP PRO said that no mountaineer from the group, which belongs to Uttarkashi's Nehru Mountaineering Institute, has been reported missing so far.
"Rapid relief and rescue operations are being carried out by the district administration, NDRF, SDRF, Army and ITBP personnel along with the team of NIM to rescue the trainees trapped in the avalanche in Draupadi's Danda-2 mountain peak at the earliest," said Taking Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami in a tweet.
CM Dhami said that he has spoken to Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and requested for help from the army to speed up the rescue operation.
"He has assured us to give every possible help from the Centre. A rescue operation is being conducted to bring out everyone," Dhami said. (ANI)