KARGIL: An injured mountaineer was rescued in a separate operation by the Indian Air Force (IAF) in Ladakh, officials said on Sunday, while the body of a missing 39-year-old Italian trekker was discovered. According to Senior Superintendent of Police for Kargil, Anayat Ali Chowdhary, a joint team of the police, the Union Territory Disaster Response Force (UTDRF), and the Army’s “Forever in operation” division retrieved Davide Macella’s body from Charchar La Pass along the Leh-Zangla track.After being last seen in Hankar on July 23, Macella was reported missing while travelling by foot from Leh to Zangla in Himachal Pradesh. According to Chowdhary, the combined rescue team was sent out from Kargil, and the body of the foreigner was found with the aid of local guides and sent to the designated guardian after all legal procedures were completed. He praised the rescuers’ efforts, saying they overcame difficult obstacles in the terrain and waddled through the upstream area to ensure that the body was recovered in as little as two days.Five UTDRF members who were on a mission to find the foreigner last week had to be flown out of the Markha valley by the Indian Air Force (IAF) in a risky operation. According to officials, the IAF single engine helicopter was used in the rescue mission to fly across unexplored region and a tight valley without any flat terrain or features to land in order to free the trapped UTDRF men. An wounded mountaineer was rescued by the IAF in a different rescue mission from the base camp of Mt. Nun, the tallest peak in the Zanskar valley of Ladakh at 7,135 metres.”114 HU (helicopter unit) #Leh of Indian Air Force successfully evacuated an injured mountaineer from Mt Nun base camp in a daring rescue op (operation),” the Army’s public relations officer (PRO) in Leh wrote in a tweet on Sunday. He also posted a few images and videos of the procedure. According to officials, the IAF initiated the rescue effort upon Shrikant Balasaheb Suse’s request after learning about the head injuries sustained by an Indian mountaineer. The injured mountaineer was rescued by the IAF and sent to a hospital, according to them.
