An Army mountaineering team on a recent expedition to the Satopanth peak in the Garhwal Himalayas stumbled across frozen remains of a person in fatigues, giving rise to speculations it could be a soldier who went missing 16 years ago.
The body, with mountaineering equipment strewn all around it, was found by the Army team on September 23, and it was brought to Gangotri and handed over to the police.
From the clothes, it appears to be a soldier who had gone missing in the course of an expedition to the 7,075-metre-high peak in 2005, Lt. Colonel Harshdeep Gehlot said on September 26.
Nothing can be said with certainty at the moment, he added.
The remains will be sent for DNA testing, and only after that can something conclusive be said about it, Uttarkashi Superintendent of Police (SP) Manikant Mishra said.
If it is confirmed to be a missing soldier, the body will be handed over to his family with full military honours, the SP said.
Detailed information about the members of the Indian Army's mountaineering team that had gone on the 2005 expedition is being gathered, he added.
