5 ITBP men suffer frostbite on expedition; 3 survive 50 hrs

ITBP jawans Narender Singh and Biman Biswas abandoned their dreams to summit Mount Dhaulagiri, the world's 7th tallest peak, and suffered severe frost bite injuries just to save their sick buddy at the icy heights of over 8,000 metres.

The three troops, including Krishna Prasad Gurung, also scripted a miraculous escape as they survived the sub-zero temperatures without food and shelter for over 50 hours, with their base camp frantically looking for their "missing" colleagues.

A total of five jawans of the Sino-India border guarding force, flagged off for the expedition from here on March 10, were air-lifted from the base camp of the 8,167-metre tall peak located in Nepal and admitted to the AIIMS Trauma Centre on May 24.

While Singh has been put on a long drawn treatment for the next three months to cure his hands and legs from the severe frostbite injuries, Biswas, Gurung and two others were being administered oxygen therapy to restore their normal condition.

Officials said Head Constable Singh and Constable Biswas were on way to the summit, behind the first party of five Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) troops who successfully scaled the peak on May 19, when they found Gurung get dizzy and sick on his way from the summit.

They said the duo then abandoned its ascent to the peak and instead decided to take care of Gurung.

However, all three went missing in the icy heights for over 50 hours and finally reached the base camp in bad shape with frostbite and high-altitude sickness symptoms, they said.

In the meantime, two other troops too got affected by the harsh climate on the peak that the ITBP went to conquer for the first time.

"All the five troops are being provided the best-possible treatment. Other members of the 23-member expedition team are safe," ITBP spokesperson Deputy Commandant Vivek Kumar Pandey said.

Mount Dhaulagiri was successfully climbed for the first time by a Swiss-Austrian-Nepali expedition in 1960.

The ITBP, a paramilitary force under the Union Home Ministry, is tasked with guarding the 3,488-km Sino-Indian frontier and its border posts are located at altitudes ranging from 9,000-feet to 18,700-feet.

(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)