DEHRADUN: Bodies of four mountaineers was recovered by the rescue team from Mt Trishul on Saturday and were identified as Lt Cdr Rajnikant Yadav, Lt Cdr Yogesh Tiwari, Lt Cdr Anant Kukreti, Hari Om MCPO II.
Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh tweeted expressing anguish over the death of the mountaineers.
"Deeply anguished by the tragic death of four Navy personnel who were part of the Indian Navy mountaineering expedition to Mt. Trishul. The nation has not only lost precious young lives but also courageous soldiers in this tragedy," said Singh.
"My heart goes out to the bereaved families of Lt Cdr Rajnikant Yadav, Lt Cdr Yogesh Tiwari, Lt Cdr Anant Kukreti and Hari Om MCPO II. My thoughts are with their families in this hour of tragedy. Praying for early locating of the remaining team members," added the defence minister.
The joint team is searching for two more missing mountaineers including one Navy personnel and a Sherpa.
This group of mountaineers went missing on Friday morning after getting hit by an avalanche.
Later in the day, rumors started circulating that daughter of a Indian Navy officer Kaamya Karthikeyan, a 13-year-old girl mountaineering enthusiast, was also among the six missing mountaineers including personnel of the Indian Navy in Mount Trishul.
However, no official was ready to either confirmed or deny this.
In February last year, she became the youngest person to scale the 6,962 meters high Mount Aconcagua in the Andes Mountains in South America. Her achievements have been praised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during 'Mann ki Baat'.
Earlier on Friday, a joint rescue and search team of Indian Air Force, Indian Army, State Disaster Response Force and others including mountaineers from Nehru Institute of Mountaineering was dispatched to conduct the search operation.
Mount Trishul (7120 meters) is a group of three Himalayan peaks often likened to the trident of Lord Shiva was first scaled in 1907 by British mountaineer Tom George Longstaff.
The peak is located in Bageshwar district but moutaineering expeditions are launched from Joshimath and Ghat areas of Chamoli district for the summit.