Eight mountaineers go missing in the Himalayas

New Delhi: A team of eight mountaineers, including seven foreign nationals, went missing in the Indian Himalayas, officials said.

The team went missing climbing India's second tallest mountain, Nanda Devi.

On May 13, the team started climbing the 7,816-metre Nanda Devi East peak, which is around 540 km east of Dehradun, the capital city of Uttarakhand.

"It was a group of 12 people which left left Munsiyari, the base camp on May 13. All of them were supposed to return to base camp on May 25," Additional District Magistrate Pithoragarh R. D. Paliwala told international media.

"Yesterday evening we got information that only four people have returned and eight are missing."

According to officials, the missing group of climbers include four British nationals, two Americans, one Australian and one Indian.

Officials confirmed they had started rescue efforts to find the group.

"Following the information about missing mountaineers, we mobilised our teams including disaster response force personnel, health teams and police, besides informing the Indo-Tibetan Border Police to initiate a rescue work. The team has set out to trace the missing persons," Paliwala said. "We have even requisitioned for a helicopter to intensify the search operation."

"We are hopeful to trace them soon but at the same time rescue efforts are dependent on the weather conditions," Paliwala added.