Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Friday said that 19 bodies have been recovered till now in the Uttarkashi avalanche case. “Till now, 19 bodies have been recovered. Rescue operation is underway by teams of NDRF, SDRF, ITBP, Indian Army, and district administration. I am also monitoring the rescue operation,” Dhami was quoted saying by news agency ANI.

On Tuesday, the avalanche occurred at a height of 17,000 feet when a team of Nehru Institute of Mountaineering was returning after summiting Draupadi Ka Danda II peak. The mountaineers were part of a team selected by the NIM for an advanced training course. The team consisting of 41 people, included 34 trainees and seven instructors, The Indian Express reported. The missing are reportedly stuck in the crevasse in Dokraini Bamak glacier where the avalanche struck.

Also Read: Uttarkashi Avalanche: 5 more bodies recovered from site, death toll reaches nine; 22 mountaineers still missing

Meanwhile, four more bodies of trainee mountaineers were brought back on Friday morning and were taken for post-mortem. The families of the deceased have also been informed, Chatar Singh, sub-divisional magistrate Bhatwadi, said, ANI reported.

Earlier, rescue operations were delayed for Draupadi’s Danda-2 peak due to bad weather.

A total of 19 bodies were recovered from the site of an avalanche that hit a team of climbers in Uttarkashi, Uttarkhand Deputy General of Police (DGP) Ashok Kumar said on Friday. A total of 30 rescue teams have been deployed, he added.

While 17 of these bodies are of trainee mountaineers, two are of their instructors, the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering said on Friday, adding that the death toll stood at 19, PTI reported.

The institute said that 10 trainees are still missing.

Also Read: Search operations resume to trace mountaineers in avalanche-hit Uttarakhand peak 

According to the list by NIM, the trainees belong to West Bengal, Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Telangana, Assam, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Uttar Pradesh.

Search and rescue operations are being conducted by the Army, Indian Air Force, NIM, Indo-Tibetan Border Police, High Altitude Warfare School (Jammu and Kashmir) and State Disaster Response Force along with the district administration.