Ten trainee mountaineers from the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering died after an avalanche hit Draupadi’s Danda-2 mountain peak in Uttarakhand’s Uttarkashi district on Tuesday.

Forty-one persons, including 34 trainees and seven mountaineering instructors, were hit by the avalanche at 4 am as they returned from the mountain peak, the institute said.

Uttarakhand Director General of Police Ashok Kumar said that eight mountaineers have been rescued so far, reported ANI. Nehru Institute of Mountaineering’s Principal Colonel Amit Bisht said that the rescue teams sighted ten bodies out of which four have been recovered, reported The Hindu.

The peak is located in the Gangotri range of the Garhwal Himalayas at a height of 5,670 metres.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said that he was anguished by the accident and condoled the families of the dead.

Earlier in the day, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said that rescue operations are being carried out by the district administration, the National Disaster Response Force, the State Disaster Response Force, the Army and Indo-Tibetan Border Police personnel along with a team from the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering.