Ground operations launched for 2 missing Arunachal mountaineers

Authorities today launched ground search operations in search of missing mountaineer Tapi Mra and his assistant Niku Dao.

The ground team includes 31 army personnel and 60 porters who began their search operation from Seppa.

Apart from them, 3 mountaineers identified as Tame Bagang, Tagit Sorang, and Taro Hai are also part of the team.

The team today left for the first base camp from Seppa for the foot track mission to trace the two missing mountaineers.

Meanwhile, even as ground search operations have been launched, efforts to launch an aerial survey of the area in search of the two missing mountaineers continue to be hit as heavy rains and inclement weather continues to play spoilsport.

Meanwhile, headed by East Kameng Deputy Commissioner Pravimal Abhishek Polumatla, an ‘Incident Response System’ has been activated and responsibilities have been distributed to different government and army officials.

It might be mentioned that since Tuesday 4 choppers have been kept on standby to carry out the aerial search and rescue operations.

However, it could not be materialized due to heavy rain and inclement weather conditions. And with the IMD predicting more rains in the next 5 days it will be hard for the choppers to be airborne.