Ulaanbaatar
Otgontenger Calamity: 14 bodies brought to capital city
Society
Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ Bodies of 14 mountaineers who lost their lives on Otgontenger Mountain were brought to the capital city around 9 pm on October 24.
The bodies were delivered to the National Institute of Forensic Science for identification by family members.
On October 25, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) continues its search operation for the remaining three mountaineers who are feared dead.
After 17 mountaineers went missing in a snowslide on Otgontenger Mountain since October 21, the NEMA received the report on the afternoon of October 22 from one of the ten mountaineers who fortunately survived the natural disaster. Search groups found ten bodies on October 23 and four bodies on October 24.
The search operation base is elevated at 2,811 meters on the 4,008-meters-high mountain and about 170 people engaged in the operation on the second day. Emergency servicemen are digging through a snowdrift, the depth of which is 3-5 meters at some point, on about 160,000 square meters area.
According to U.Enkhtuvshin, Deputy Prime Minister and Head of State Emergency Commission, who returned to Ulaanbaatar on Tuesday evening from the site, a 700-meters-long and 150-meters-wide snowslide struck the mountaineers. “The mountaineers had been divided into three groups for the climb down, and the last group of ten mountaineers survived,” he said.
The survivors refused a helicopter ride along with the 14 bodies, and drove to the capital city on Tuesday evening.
The bodies were delivered to the National Institute of Forensic Science for identification by family members.
On October 25, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) continues its search operation for the remaining three mountaineers who are feared dead.
After 17 mountaineers went missing in a snowslide on Otgontenger Mountain since October 21, the NEMA received the report on the afternoon of October 22 from one of the ten mountaineers who fortunately survived the natural disaster. Search groups found ten bodies on October 23 and four bodies on October 24.
The search operation base is elevated at 2,811 meters on the 4,008-meters-high mountain and about 170 people engaged in the operation on the second day. Emergency servicemen are digging through a snowdrift, the depth of which is 3-5 meters at some point, on about 160,000 square meters area.
According to U.Enkhtuvshin, Deputy Prime Minister and Head of State Emergency Commission, who returned to Ulaanbaatar on Tuesday evening from the site, a 700-meters-long and 150-meters-wide snowslide struck the mountaineers. “The mountaineers had been divided into three groups for the climb down, and the last group of ten mountaineers survived,” he said.
The survivors refused a helicopter ride along with the 14 bodies, and drove to the capital city on Tuesday evening.
Kh.Aminaa
