GUWAHATI: A fifteen-member team of local mountaineers, family members and porters left for Mount Kyarisatam near the India-China border in Arunachal Pradesh to conduct a search operation for missing Everester Tapi Mra and his assistant Niku Dao.
The operation was delayed by weeks due to “hurdles” created allegedly by East Kameng district administration. The team left district headquarters Seppa on October 7 and when reports last came in, it reached Yarchum – the confluence of Kameng and Wapriyang Bung rivers. Mount Kyarisatam is not far off from the place.
Mra and Dao were reported missing in mid-August after they had embarked on scaling Mount Kyarisatam, the state’s highest mountain peak located at an altitude of 6,890 metres. A ground search and rescue operation, carried out by the Army along with two local mountaineers in September, had to be called off mid-way due to inclement weather. The families of the two missing persons had met Chief Minister Pema Khandu on September 23 and sought his help for a fresh search operation.