Fay Manners from the UK and Michelle Devcak from the US were stranded at 18,500 ft

Ajay Banerjee

The Indian Air Force has rescued two women mountaineers – one from the US and other from the UK – who had got lost their climbing gear and satellite phone following an accident near the Chaukhamba peak in Chamoli district of Uttarakhand.

Fay Manners from the UK and Michelle Devcak from the US were rescued on Sunday, three days after they sent an SOS using a radio device that emits a signal to locate mountaineers in distress. They were airlifted from an altitude of 18,500 ft by two separate IAF helicopters, commanded by Wing Commander Girish and Squadron Leader Anshul Singh. The weather was not conducive for the helicopter that had been flying for the past two days. Today, the duo was located and airlifted.

The two women mountaineers faced an accident when a boulder fell on their climbing rope, and the force of the boulder sheared the equipment that dropped down in the valley. A satellite phone, which mountaineers carry for emergency, was in the bag that that was lost.

Luckily the duo was carrying a rescue signal device – known as bioevac in mountaineering circles — using which they signalled the Indian Mountaineering Federation. The District Magistrate at Chamoli informed the IAF.

The IAF operates in the Siachen glacier as a matter of routine and has decades of experience in high-altitude flying.