Body of missing Italian trekker found in Ladakh

Kargil/Jammu, August 13

The body of a 39-year-old missing Italian trekker was found while an injured mountaineer was rescued in a separate operation by the Indian Air Force (IAF) in Ladakh, officials said on Sunday. The body of Davide Macella was recovered by a joint team of the police, the Union Territory Disaster Response Force (UTDRF) and the Army’s ‘Forever in operation’ division from Charchar La Pass along the Leh-Zangla track, Kargil SSP Anayat Ali Chowdhary said.

Macella was reported missing in the treacherous terrain while on a hiking trip from Leh to Zangla in Himachal Pradesh, after being last seen in Hankar on July 23. Chowdhary said the joint rescue team was launched from Kargil and the body of the foreigner was retrieved with the help of local guides and handed over to the nominated guardian after completion of legal formalities.

In another rescue mission, the IAF evacuated an injured mountaineer from the base camp of 7,135-metre-high Mt Nun, the highest peak in the Zanskar valley of Ladakh. “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 Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Army in Leh said in a tweet on X on Sunday.

Officials said the IAF launched the rescue operation at the requisition of Kargil DC Shrikant Balasaheb Suse.