Rescue operations for 26 mountaineers missing in the Indian Himalayas resumed on Wednesday (October 5th) the day after an avalanche that has already killed at least four people from the same group of young climbers.
"
The weather is fine now and rescue operations have resumed
," Ridhim Aggarwal, spokesman for the Uttarakhand state relief agency, told AFP.
"
At least 26 people are still missing
," she said, adding that none of the rescued group members had serious injuries but some were under observation in hospital.
Bad weather conditions
The search had been suspended on Tuesday due to bad weather conditions near the summit of Mount Draupadi ka Danda-II, at an altitude of 4880 meters in the state of Uttarakhand (North) where the avalanche had occurred in the morning .
The group of climbers consisted of apprentices from a local mountaineering institute, the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering.
He confirmed the presence in the group of 34 apprentices and seven supervisors, without specifying a 42nd team member mentioned by the rescue manager.
The deaths of four mountaineers were confirmed Tuesday after the avalanche.
Local media reported that rescuers spotted six more bodies on Tuesday before bad weather halted the search, but the national disaster management agency has yet to release an official toll.
Buried camps
Two Air Force helicopters have been dispatched to help search the scene of the avalanche, disaster management official Devendra Singh Patwal told AFP.
In August, the body of a mountaineer was found two months after he fell into a crevasse while crossing a glacier in Himachal Pradesh, another northern Indian state.
And last week, the body of famous mountaineer and skier Hilaree Nelson was found on the slopes of Manaslu, a Nepalese mountain.
She was reported missing while skiing down the eighth highest peak on the planet.
On the day of the accident, an avalanche had buried camps 3 and 4 installed on the 8,163 meter high mountain, killing the Nepalese mountaineer Anup Rai and injuring a dozen people.
Read alsoFaced with India, China increases its military pressure on the Himalayas
Studies are lacking to quantify the impact of climate change on the Himalayas, but climbers have observed widening of crevasses, water in previously snow-capped areas and the proliferation of glacial lakes.