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Two climbers rescued after 3 days stranded on Himalayan peak

October 7, 2024

Fay Jane Manners and Michelle Theresa Dvorak lost almost all of their equipment after a rockslide on Chaukhamba-3 at 17,400 feet.

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Himalayan Region in Darjeeling
The climbers were trapped on a peak at 17,400 feet without food or a tent.Image: Prabhakar Mani Tewari/DW

Two climbers, one British and one American, were rescued on Sunday after being stranded for three days while climbing a peak in the northern Indian Himalayas, the Indian Air Force reported.

On Thursday, after a rockslide, Fay Jane Manners, from the UK, and Michelle Theresa Dvorak, from the US, saw their climbing gear tumble down a ravine along with their food, tent, and backpacks.

The rockslide left both trapped on a rocky section of Chaukhamba-3 at 17,400 feet (5,300 meters) in the state of Uttarakhand.

"We were pulling up my bag and she (Dvorak) had her bag on her. And the rockfall came, cut the rope with the other bag, and it just went down the entire mountain," Manners told local reporters on Sunday.

Indian workers rescued 17 days after tunnel collapse

Rescue took more than 80 hours

Although most of their communication devices also fell down the mountain, the climbers were able to send a distress signal.

On Friday, the Indian Air Force sent a team with two helicopters to search for the climbers, but they were unable to locate them, according to Indian authorities.

However, on Saturday, a French mountaineering team on the same route as Manners and Dvorak saw them and reported their coordinates to the rescue teams.

The climbers were finally rescued in an operation that took 80 hours to complete.

fmf/wmr (AP)