DEHRADUN: As many 26 bodies including those of two instructors and 24 trainees have been recovered in a grueling search operation launched by the 30-member rescue team, from the crashed ice crevasse of the Draupadi Ka Danda -II in Pauri region of Uttarakhand till late evening hours on Saturday.
Efforts are afoot to airlift the recovered bodies of ill-fated trainee mountaineers and their two instructors to Matli Helipad, informed DGP Uttarakhand, Ashok Kumar.
The Uttarakhand government has deployed a 30-member team from IAF, Army, ITBP, SDRF and the mountaineers from the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering(NIM), Uttarkashi to recovered the dead bodies trapped in the crashed ice crevasse of the Draupadi Ka Danda -II peak.
As many as 27 trainee mountaineers and two instructors were buried alive in the big ice crevasse after the massive avalanche hit 36 members at Danda II on October 4.
Only eight trainees escaped from the impact of the avalanche and they were airlifted safely by the IAF helicopter to the Matli helipad on Friday.
The family members of the illfated mountaineers are having harrowing time as they had been camping in Uttarkashi to get the bodies of their wards.
IAF helicopter had airlifted eight persons from the Draupadi Ka Danda site and brought them back to Matli base camp on Friday and were rushed to the hospital, where they were under treatment.
Uttarakhand police agencies have released the list of 29 missing mountaineers.
As many as three trainees are from Himachal - Lt Col Deepak Vashisht, Shivam Kainthla and Anshul Kainthla. Kainthlas are from Narkanda.
Other missing persons are- nine from Uttarakhand, three from West Bengal, two each from Karnataka, Haryana, one each from Delhi, Telanagana, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Vivu Puri and Assam.
Missing mountaineer included Lt Col Deepak Vashishat, two other defence personnel LNK Shubham Singh(MOD) and SGT Amit Kumar Singh, both from UP. 
How they were trapped? Due to rise in temperature, the ice slab on the Draupadi Ka Danda peak broke and triggered the massive avalanche, said the experts in the know of the natural disaster event.
The 36 members team was advancing towards the Danda II peak for gaining height. The resultant avalanche swept them and buried the team members in "a big crevasse".
According to the NIM sources, team was undertaking advance course in mountaineering that started on September 14. The team had left for the Danda-II summit on September 22 for further training.
The avalanche struck them on Tuesday while they were around the Danda-II trek, said the police.
Principal of Nehru Institute of Mountaineering(NIM), Uttarkashi Col Anil Bisht had left for the Advanced Camp to monitor the rescue operation. 
Dhami said he was concerned over the security of the trainees. Rescue team is trying to rescue the unfortunate trainees, but bad weather had hit the operation earlier.
Chief Minister has condoled the death of those killed in the incident and expressed sympathies with the bereaved families and wished the safety of the missing persons.
