Watch: Poignant video footage of Nanda Devi mountaineers captured before their tragic deaths
Eight climbers had gone missing near the Nanda Devi peak after an avalanche hit the area. The bodies of seven climbers have been recovered so far.
A team of Indo-Tibetan Border Police mountaineers has located a video storage device at an altitude of 19,000 feet, with a poignant story to tell. Upon investigation, the device revealed footage of a team of mountaineers who attempted to scale the Nanda Devi East peak on May 25. The group was killed in an avalanche near Nanda Devi.
The team of mountaineers included four Britishers, two Americans, one Indian and one Australian. The bodies of the climbers were spotted on an unscaled peak next to Nanda Devi East. Four British mountaineers, who had separated from the group, provided essential details for the rescue operations. The ITBP operation was named “Operation Daredevil”.
The retrieved video shows them near the summit of an unnamed peak, and may well be the last documentation of the moments before they were killed. The device was located while searching the area where their bodies were spotted. One climber’s body still remains missing.