Meghalaya climber Teimiki Sungoh of Shangpung, West Jaintia Hills district was adjudged the Best Rescuer and has been awarded ‘Grade A’, which is the highest grade given by the Mountaineering Institutes for their performance and completion of the training on search and rescue.
Sungoh is the Assistant Secretary of the Meghalaya Sport Climbing and Mountaineering Association (MeSCMA) had attended the Search and Rescue Course held at the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute (HMI) held from March 6 to March 28.
Altogether 23 participants from all over the country completed the training who are now ready to respond, rescue and rise to every challenge to assist the district authorities and other organisations.
MeSCMA president Malviancy Shabong said impressed by the performance of Sungoh, the institute has also elected him to be the guest instructor for the coming courses in May 2025.
“The trainees are required to be physically and mentally fit and have a positive and adventurous attitude. This training is usually practiced in high altitudes at Himalayas that tends to include technical rope access on rocky cliff, snow, glaciers, crevasses and knowledge of First Aid, Navigation, Audio and visual communication signals and evacuation methods including the use of helicopters to quickly extract casualties and dogs may be deployed to find a casualty,” Shabong said.
She said the term is sometimes used to apply to search and rescue in other wilderness environments. Accessing the inaccessible conditions has resulted in the development of specialized, high performance and safety centric tools and techniques making each task easier and more efficient, she added.
