Dozens of individuals participating in a mountaineering course were hit by an avalanche on Draupadi Ka Danda-II peak in Uttarakhand on October 4, 2022.

• A total of 16 individuals, including 2 instructors and 14 trainees have lost their life to the avalanche while taking part in a training course conducted by Nehru Institute of Mountaineering. 15 more people are currently missing.
• Among the casualties is 26-year-old Savita Kanswal, who became the first Indian woman to climb Mount Everest and Mount Makalu in just 16 days.
• The rescue operations are currently being conducted by State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), a 14-member team from High Altitude Warfare School based in Jammu and Kashmir’s Gulmarg as well as mountaineers from the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering (NIM).
• The avalanche had hit the Draupadi Ka Danda II peak in Uttarakshi district at an altitude of 17,000 feet.
• This catastrophic avalanche may have been caused because of a 2.5 magnitude earthquake that hit the Uttarakshi district on October 2.
• The epicentre of this earthquake was at Nald village in Uttarakshi district’s Bhatwari tehsil.