Uttarakhand News: Two foreign female tourists got stuck while trekking on the Chaukhambha mountain located in Chamoli district of Uttarakhand. The incident happened on the evening of 3 October 2024, when the luggage and other equipment of the trekking team of British citizen Fayjane Manners (27) and USA citizen Michelle Theresa Devorok (23) fell into the ravine, causing them to face difficult conditions on the heavily snowed Chaukhambha mountain.  

The women tourists contacted their respective embassy through pager, after which the administration was informed about the incident. The administration took immediate action and sought help from the Indian Air Force and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF). On the morning of October 4, two Chetak helicopters of the Air Force took off from Sarsawa (Saharanpur) airbase and started the search operation on Chaukhambha-3 peak, but no trace of them has been found so far.

Chamoli District Magistrate Sandeep Tiwari said that another search operation has been started on Friday to search for foreign tourists. The Forest Department has requested the SDRF to search with the help of helicopters, while the NDRF team has also been called from Dehradun   .

Both these women had gone for trekking to Chaukhambha-3 from 11 September to 18 October after taking permission from the Indian Count Training Association. This mountain is situated at an altitude of 6,995 meters and is considered extremely challenging for trekking. The administration has also said that the weather conditions are proving to be challenging in the search operation, but all efforts are on. The search operation will be conducted again on Saturday. The Chamoli district administration is keeping an eye on this matter and the officials are constantly taking information about the search operation.