When seasoned climbers Michelle Theresa Dvorak, 23, and Fay Jane Manners, 27, set out expedition on September 15 from Delhi to the glorious Himalayas, little did they know of what lay ahead — that they would be stranded on a ruthless mountain for three days and nights without the sight of help.
But on Sunday around 6.30am, help finally arrived and the two women were brought back to safety from an unforgiving altitude of 5,638 metres to plains by choppers of the Indian Air Force (IAF), officials said. The gruelling rescue efforts involved personnel from the State Disaster Response Force, IAF, and Nehru Institute of Mountaineering (NIM), and a French group of climbers who spotted them and brought them down a few metres.
Speaking of the rescue operation, SDRF inspector general Ridhim Agarwal said they carried out an aerial search at the beginning, on Friday, which was challenging due to the inaccessibility of the terrain. “A team of four SDRF personnel was dropped by a helicopter at the Advance Base Camp (4,900 meters). From this [Sunday] morning, the SDRF team started moving towards the coordinates provided by the mountaineers to search for them. Meanwhile, an IAF team engaged in a parallel search operation using choppers found the mountaineers and airlifted them to Jyotirmath. They are safe and sound,” Agarwal added.
Read more: Three spectators die at IAF’s air show in Chennai
Dvorak, a US citizen and Manners, a UK citizen, were part of an expedition by the India Mountaineering Foundation (IMF) till the base camp, after which they pair was climbing on their own. They were to climb and summit the Chaukhamba 3 at 6,996 metres.
The rescue
A little after2pm on October 3, the climbers were stranded at a height of 6,015m, after the rope lifting their food, climbing equipment and other supplies snapped. The bag they watched tumble down the craggy terrain had had everything — tents, stove to melt snow for water, warm clothes, ice axes and torches.
All the two were left with was a pager, which they used to send a distress message to their respective embassies in Delhi. Around 4.30pm, IMF requested the district administration for a helicopter to rescue the mountaineers. Later that night, Chamoli additional district magistrate Vivek Prakash sent a request to the defence ministry for requisition of choppers, officials said.
The next day (October 4) two Cheetahs, IAF choppers, were dispatched from Sarsawa air base in Uttar Pradesh’s Saharanpur to Jyotirmath in Chamoli early morning. They conducted an aerial recce at the coordinates provided by the mountaineers throughout the day to trace them, but returned hopeless, due to adverse bad weather, dense fog and altitude.
The Chaukhamba in the Garhwal Himalayas is an enormous mountain shaped like four pillars. The four peaks line up along a ridge running from northeast to southwest. The highest peak, Chaukhamba 1, lies on top of the Gangotri glacier, at a height of 7,138m. The other three peaks rise to a height of 7,088 metres, 6,995 metres, and 6,854 metres, respectively.
The Uttarakhand disaster management started working on a plan B immediately, an on-ground rescue operation. A team of four expert mountaineers of the SDRF was dropped at the advanced base camp at 4,900 metres so they could move towards the stranded climbers. Meanwhile, an expert team from the NIM in Uttarkashi was also mobilised for the on-foot rescue operation.
“Even though IAF and SDRF were looking for them meticulously, the climbers were untraceable. As time passed, rescue teams also faced challenges. Meanwhile, it came to light that a five-member French group of mountaineers had set off for the Chaukhamba peak expedition on September 18,” said Chamoli disaster management officer NK Joshi.
IMF and Chamoli district administration soon shared the necessary information and possible location of stranded climbers with the French group on October 5, after which the group too began the search.
“By October 5 evening, the group found them and informed the district administration about their location. At around 6.45 am on Sunday, the two Cheetah choppers airlifted the stranded climbers. SDRF team that was dropped at the advanced base camp was also brought back to Jyotirmath using choppers,” Joshi added.
