ULAN BATOR, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- Mongolia's National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) said Monday that ten bodies of the 17 missing mountaineers who were climbing Mount Otgontenger were found.
At a press conference, Brigadier General and first deputy head of the National Emergency Management Agency G. Ariunbuyan said these bodies were found at an altitude of 3200-3450 meters, saying that these mountaineers may have fallen from the cliff.
The 17 Mongolians, including seven women, were among a group of 27 mountain climbers who successfully stood on Mount Otgontenger, but they ran into a snow avalanche when they descended.
Local emergency services immediately launched a rescue operation on the day and Mongolia's National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) also held an emergency meeting to consider sending a reinforcement team after receiving the information by 2:30 p.m. (0630 GMT) from one of the 10 mountaineers who got down.
Currently, more than 100 people are conducting a search and rescue operation with the help of two helicopters and other equipment. However, due to the cold and windy weather in the Otgontenger mountain area, rescuers decided to pause the operation until the next day.
Mongolian Environment and Tourism Minister Namsrai Tserenbat stressed at the emergency meeting that the ascent to Mount Otgontenger was banned from 2015.
Mongolian Prime Minister Ulziisaikhan Enkhtuvshin, who also heads the State Commission for Emergency Situations, instructed Major-General T.Badral, the head of the NEMA, to intensify the search.
Otgontenger is 4,008 meters above the mean sea level and is the only peak in the Khangai range that is capped with a permanent glacier.
