IN Bureau

Four officers and a junior commissioned officer of the Indian Navy on a mountaineering expedition went missing on Friday after getting caught in an avalanche when they were about to reach the peak of Mount Trishul at 7, 120 metre in Uttarakhand's Bageshwar district.

The search and rescue operations for five missing mountaineers of the Indian Navy had to be called off at 4 pm on Friday due to bad weather. Officials said another warning for an avalanche had been issued. They said that the search and rescue will resume on Saturday morning.

A rescue team from Uttarkashi-based Nehru Institute of Mountaineering led by its principal Colonel Amit Bisht had left for the avalanche-hit area in search of the missing, according to a statement from NIM.

The team of rescuers has reached up to Joshimath but bad weather is impeding their progress, the statement added. .

A combined team of Indian Army, Air Force and the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) assisted by a helicopter are engaged in rescue operations, the statement added.

Mount Trishul which means trident, a weapon associated with lord Shiva, is a group of three Himalayan peaks located in Bageshwar district of Uttarakhand.

The adventure wing of the Indian Navy had informed NIM authorities about the incident around 11 am and sought the help of the institute's search and rescue team.

The 20-member Navy expedition was flagged off at Mumbai on September 3. Ten  climbers had started the final leg of their journey to the summit early on Friday but were caught in the avalanche.

Navy spokesperson Commander Vivek Madhwal had said five out of the 10 climbers were safe.