Two foreign climbers, spending time in the Himalayas, were rescued after being stranded for three days on a Himalayan mountain in northern India.
Fay Jane Manners from the UK and Michelle Theresa Dvorak from the US were climbing a rocky section of Chaukhamba-3 peak in Uttarakhand, India, when they became stranded, according to Sandeep Tiwari, a senior official from Chamoli district. The climbers were successfully rescued on Sunday.
The incident began on Thursday in the Himalayas when a rockfall severed their rope, sending their bags — which contained essential items like food, a tent, and climbing gear — into a gorge. The climbers also lost most of their communication devices but managed to send an emergency message the same day.
“We were pulling up my bag, and she (Dvorak) had her bag on her. Then the rockfall hit, cutting the rope with the other bag, and it went down the entire mountain,” Manners told local reporters on Sunday.
The rescue mission, which took 80 hours to complete, involved the Indian Air Force and the Uttarakhand State Disaster Management Authority.
Rajkumar Negi, a spokesperson for India’s disaster management agency in the Himalayas, stated that two Indian Air Force helicopters sent on Friday were initially unable to locate the climbers. However, on Saturday, a French mountaineering team attempting to climb the same peak spotted the stranded pair and provided their coordinates to rescue authorities.
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On Sunday, the Indian Air Force airlifted the climbers from an altitude of 17,400 feet. In a statement on social platform X, the Air Force praised the successful operation for its exceptional coordination under extreme conditions.
Chaukhamba-3 is a peak in the Garhwal Himalaya range in northern India.
