- NET Web Desk
The East Kameng District Administration has issued a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for conducting the Search And Rescue (SAR) operation to trace the whereabouts of ‘missing’ mountaineers – Tapi Mra and his assistant Niku Dao.
In a notification issued Wednesday, the Deputy Commissioner (DC) of East Kameng and District Magistrate (DM) Abhishek Polumatia listed a six-point SOP to trace the location of the ‘missing’ mountaineers.
According to the notification, the rescue team will now move to camps 1 & 2, as the search team was unable to trace any signs of human presence at the base camp.
Additionally, the local administration has prohibited trekking expeditions for two months along the high-altitude locations of Lada, Khenewa, and Sewa circles.
The order was issued after the police and the Indian Army furnished reports that trekking routes along the region’s high-altitude locations are unsafe, following incessant rain over the last two weeks.
The administration has designated Major LP Singh from the Indian Army as ‘Rescue Team Commander’ and made him the overall in-charge of the SAR operation.
It has also prohibited members of the rescue team from taking any photos or videos of the search operation on their personal mobile phones or cameras.
“Any photography/videography shall be done only on the instructions of the Rescue Team Commander. All members are hereby directed to deposit their mobile phones or cameras with the Rescue Team Commander forthwith,” the notification added.
Its worthy to note that Tapi Mra – the first mountaineer from Arunachal Pradesh to conquer Mount Everest; has been reportedly missing with a porter – Niku Dao, while on an official mission to explore the snow-capped Mount Kyari Satam, one of the highest peaks in the frontier state.
Mra, also the Secretary General of Mountaineering Association of Arunachal Pradesh; had climbed the world’s highest peak on May 21, 2009. While, this was Mra’s fourth attempt to scale the Khyarii Satam peak.
