The Meghalaya Sport Climbing and Mountaineering Association (MeSCMA) informed today that Teimiki Sungoh, from Shangpung in West Jaintia Hills, is attending a search and rescue course at Darjeeling’s Himalayan Mountaineering Institute.
The course began on March 6 and will run until March 28. Sungoh’s participation has been sponsored by Meghalaya’s Directorate of Sports and Youth Affairs.
Search and rescue courses have been introduced as a regular subject in mountaineering institutes and are conducted once a year, MeSCMA said in a press release today. Trainees who completed and secured Grade A in the Advance Mountaineering Course are eligible.
The course covers search and rescue operations in the Himalayas with particular reference to rescue techniques on rock, snow and ice, first-aid, mountain navigation, radio telephony, liaising with various organisations and their involvement during rescue operations, audio and visual communication signals and evacuation methods, including use of helicopters.
The course is primarily intended to assist the hill district authorities and other organisations to establish their own search and rescue cells.
