Itanagar: The search and rescue (S&R) operation for mountaineer Tapi Mra and his assistant Niku Dao, who went missing for more than a week in northern India, has reportedly been called off owing to extreme weather conditions and poor visibility.
Tapi Mra, who climbed Mount Everest in 2009, and Niku Dao were attempting to scale Chiumo mountain peak located 6,890 metres above the sea when they went missing on August 17.
Authorities in Arunachal’s East Kameng district came to know about the missing mountaineers on August 27.
“Based on the feedback from the search and rescue teams, we found the weather and geography is extremely dangerous at the moment and there is no way we can guarantee the safety of the rescue teams. Keeping these things in mind, we have decided to call off the operations,” East Kameng deputy commissioner PA Polumatla said on Wednesday.
Satellite imagery, drones, and helicopters were earlier also unsuccessfully deployed to trace the mountaineers, who are from Arunachal Pradesh.
Major LP Singh, who led to rescue operations, said they carried out the operation amid continuous rainfall and poor visibility. “Our helicopters carried out several search attempts and dropped a team at the height of 15,000 feet from where the mountaineers were missing.”
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