ITANAGAR, 23 Oct: Even though the search and rescue (S&R) team engaged by the family members of missing mountaineer Tapi Mra succeeded in recovering the mountaineering equipment and other belongings of Mra and his assistant Niku Dao, the team members returned here from Mt Khyarii Satam in East Kameng district on Saturday with a heavy heart, as they could not trace Mra and Dao “dead or alive,” despite their best efforts.
Their search operation was cut short by inclement weather.
“We were forced to wrap up the search operation within an hour from the recovery of the items due to extreme weather condition,” the team members said.
The team, comprising Everester Tagit Sorang, mountaineers Taru Hai and Tana Lui, and Mra’s younger brother Dr Tadie Mra, and son-in-law Taniang Bate, set out for Mt Khyarii Satam from Veo village in East Kameng district on 8 October and reached the base camp after eight days of arduous, non-stop journey on 16 October. They reached Camp-1 and Camp-2 on 17 October.
The team members said that there would have been a chance of finding the footprints or any other clues regarding the duo if search operation had been conducted immediately.
“By the time we reached the spot, after two months, the entire area was fully covered with snow, erasing all evidence,” Hai, who was also one of the members of the first S&R team, said.
He said that the East Kameng district administration did not allow him and the team members to go beyond Camp-2, despite a request, during the first S&R operation.
It is pertinent to mention that Mra and Dao’s belongings and mountaineering equipment were recovered from an area about 300-400 metres beyond Camp-2.
“Had the administration allowed us to proceed beyond Camp-2 at that time, we could have recovered the items and gathered some clues about the missing persons,” he said.
Team leader Sorang said that “nothing can be said – whether they are dead or alive – at this moment.”
“Anything could have happened to them. They might have been swept away by a massive avalanche, or accidentally fallen down a crevasse,” he said.
“They might also have been caught by the Chinese army, assuming that they inadvertently crossed the border, as the place from where the items were recovered was very close to the LAC,” he said.
Meanwhile, the family members alleged lack of proper cooperation from the authority in the S&R operation. They blamed the East Kameng district administration for the delay in carrying out the second search operation.
“The government failed to arrange a helicopter even after it had given assurance that a chopper would be provided to drop the team at the base camp,” the family members said.
They said that the team waited for 12 days for the helicopter, but the chopper was never provided due to reasons best known to the authority.
They further said that the authority did not share with them the finding(s), if any, of the first S&R team.
Mra’s elder sister said that she has filed an application under the RTI Act, seeking detailed information from the East Kameng DC regarding the first S&R operation and its finding(s), if any, as the administration refused to provide the information to her.
Mra’s wife, Juna Gollo Mra – mother of three children aged 7, 5 and 2 years – said that the state government has not made any official correspondence with her regarding the incident till date.
She, however, said that officers from the youth affairs department and the Sports Authority of Arunachal came to her house and met her after hearing that Mra and Dao had gone missing.
Daporijo GHSS Alumni Association chairman Dosh Dasi, who had been in constant touch with Mra’s family and oversaw the S&R operation, praised the bravery of the rescue team and assured to help the family members “until Mra and Dao are traced, dead or alive.”
