Footage of a group of Himalayan climbers who died while trying to climb one of the peaks in the region in May has been found by a search team and shows them climbing through the snow on a remote peak.
The clip shows four Britons, two Americans, an Australian and an Indian slowly making their way up an unnamed peak in sunny weather, officials said.
The group was attempting to climb India’s second-highest peak Nanda Devi when contact was lost on 26 May.
Released on Twitter by the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), the video, which is almost two minutes in duration, shows the climbers roped together. The conditions look clear as they slowly move towards the top of the peak. But after a few seconds of recording the climb, the screen goes black.
“Last visuals of the #mountaineers’ team near the summit on unnamed peak near the #NandaDevi east. #ITBP search team of mountaineers found the memory video device at 19K ft while they were searching the area where bodies were spotted,” the post read.
Last visuals of the #mountaineers' team near the summit on unnamed peak near the #NandaDevi east. #ITBP search team of mountaineers found the memory video device at 19K ft while they were searching the area where bodies were spotted. pic.twitter.com/wKr3YtLuWF
— IANS Tweets (@ians_india) July 8, 2019
Last week the bodies of Ruth McCance and the other climbers were retrieved off the remote mountain.
In a statement, A.P.S. Nambadia, the border police Inspector General, said the footage was “mesmerising”.
“Suddenly, we noticed a loud noise,” he said. “The video went blank and stopped.
“It will help us to analyse what went wrong with their mission. The GoPro has proved to be like the black box of an aircraft giving an insight into the last few moments of the climbers.”
The group began their ascent on 13 May, led by experienced British mountain guide Martin Moran whose Scotland-based company, Moran Mountain, has run numerous expeditions in the Indian Himalayas.
He led a group consisting of: John McLaren, Rupert Whewell and University of York lecturer Richard Payne from the UK; US nationals Anthony Sudekum and Ronald Beimel; Australian McCance; and Indian guide Chetan Pandey.
