India hands over remains of British climbers who died in Himalayas
Written by News on 06/07/2019
The bodies of three climbers from the UK who died while trying to reach the top of an unscaled Himalayan peak have been handed over to the British high commission in India.
They were found last month – along with four other members of their expedition – at an altitude of more than 5,000m (16,400ft) and were airlifted out of the mountain range following an avalanche.
Indian official Vijay Kumar Jogdande said the fate of veteran British mountaineer Martin Moran, who led the group in their mission to climb Nanda Devi East, is still unknown.
Mr Moran was guiding Britons John McLaren, Rupert Whewell and Richard Payne, Americans Anthony Sudekum and Ronald Beimel, Australian Ruth McCance and Indian Chetan Pandey.
Contact with the team was lost on 26 May.
Three of the seven bodies recovered so far are yet to be identified, while the search for Mr Moran has been called off for now due to poor weather conditions.
Nigel Vardy, a mountaineer who has known Mr Moran for 20 years, described his friend as a “top of the range” climber who “knows the area”, with Nanda Devi East standing as the second-highest mountain in India.
Sandwiched between China and India, it is a twin peak of Nanda Devi and the 23rd highest mountain in the world, with the peaks connected by a razor-sharp 2km (1.2-mile) ridge at an elevation of 6,666 meters (22,000 feet).
Authorities already faced a delay in recovering the seven members of Mr Moran’s group, having first spotted most of them on 3 June but been unable to launch a mission to retrieve them until 14 June.
Two teams of paramilitary soldiers and climbers from the Indian Mountaineering Federation were eventually sent from multiple directions to reach the area and get the bodies.
Officials said the seven bodies were found roped together.
(c) Sky News 2019: India hands over remains of British climbers who died in Himalayas
