The toll in the Indian Himalayas avalanche rose to 26 on Friday after rescue teams retrieved seven more bodies from the site, reports the ANI citing the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering.
The avalanche had hit the Draupadi Ka Danda II peak in the Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand at 4 am on Tuesday. The peak is located in the Gangotri range of the Garhwal Himalayas at a height of 5,670 metres.
Twenty-four of those who died were trainee mountaineers, while the two others were their instructors, said the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering. Savita Kanswal, who became the first Indian woman to climb Mount Everest and Mount Makalu in a record time of just 16 days earlier this year, is among those who died in the avalanche, according to PTI.
Four bodies were recovered on October 4 and 15 on Thursday. The bodies of seven persons have been recovered till now on Friday.
Three trainees are still said to be missing, according to the institute.
Among the bodies recovered earlier in the week was that of climber Savita Kanswal, who had summited Everest this year.
Kanswal was an instructor with the expedition and had been feted by the climbing community for summiting the world's highest peak and nearby Makalu in just 16 days -- a women's record.
Fatal accidents common
Fatal climbing accidents are common in the Himalayas, home to Everest and several of the world's highest peaks.
In August, the body of a mountaineer was recovered two months after he fell into a crevasse while crossing a glacier in the northern state of Himachal Pradesh.
Last week, renowned US ski mountaineer Hilaree Nelson's body was found on the slopes of Nepal's Manaslu peak after she went missing skiing down the world's eighth-highest mountain.
The same day, Nepali climber Anup Rai was killed and a dozen others were injured after an avalanche on the 8,163-meter mountain.
Although no substantial research has been done on the impacts of climate change on mountaineering risks in the Himalayas, climbers have reported crevasses widening, running water on previously snowy slopes, and the increasing formation of glacial lakes.
