At least 10 mountaineers were killed, and dozens of others are feared trapped in India's Uttarakhand state on the Draupadi ka Danda peak following an avalanche, state chief Pushkar Singh Dhami said on Tuesday.
All these mountaineers belong to the state's Nehru Institute of Mountaineering (NIM).
The Institute's Principal Colonel Amit Bisht told PTI news agency that a team of 34 trainee mountaineers and seven instructors from the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering (NIM) was caught in an avalanche while returning. Meanwhile, eight mountaineers have been rescued.
Draupadi ka Danda peak is located in the Gangotri range at 8,760 meters above sea level.
"Due to an avalanche on Draupadi's Danda-2 mountain peak, 28 trainees of Nehru Mountaineering Institute, Uttarkashi, have been reported trapped. A rescue operation is being conducted to get everyone out safely. I have requested Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to expedite the rescue operation," Dhami tweeted earlier.
According to the News18 website, a group of 170 mountaineers were training when the incident reportedly took place.
The Indian Army, Indo-Tibetan Border Force (ITBP), State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) have been rushed to the site to rescue the mountaineers.
Meanwhile, in a tweet, the defense minister said that he had spoken to State Chief Dhami and also instructed the Indian Air Force (IAF) to mount a rescue and relief operation.