Authorities are trying to figure out how to retrieve five bodies from the Indian Himalayas, spotted in the search for eight mountaineers, including an Australian woman, who became lost following an avalanche.
Sydney mountaineer Ruth McCance went missing while attempting to summit a previously unclimbed peak on Nanda Devi East along with British team leader Martin Moran, three other UK climbers, two men from the United States and an Indian liaison officer.
High-resolution photographs taken during an aerial mission conducted on Monday morning identified the bodies, as well as a number of other personal effects of the climbers such as rucksacks, Indian Mountaineering Foundation spokesman Amit Chowdhury said.
"Now it's pretty much certain that the climbers were struck down by this avalanche," Mr Chowdhury told AAP on Monday evening.
The bodies are on the ground along with avalanche debris, at the site where footprints were seen leading into the path of an avalanche on Sunday, he said.
"There is no movement, therefore, it's probably practical to presume that the possibilities of anyone being alive in this kind of massive avalanche is very, very weak," Mr Chowdhury.
The focus will now shift to a ground search, which will come from a different path than the climbers took as the area is dangerous.
Plans are also being made to figure out how the bodies will be retrieved, he said.
Husband hoping for the best
The husband of Ruth McCance said he is holding out hope she'll be found alive.
Ms McCance's husband, Trent Goldsack, says "a lot of people are saying a lot of prayers for her at the moment".
"There's always hope," Mr Goldsack told AAP on Monday afternoon.
Ruth is a "truly inspiring woman", he said, adding: "She inspired through her acts, through her intellect and through her deep wisdom. She was also very spiritual."
CNN on Monday evening Australian time said a helicopter crew had spotted a backpack in the snow on the unnamed peak the eight climbers had been hoping to ascend.
Uttarakhand District Magistrate Vijay Kumar Jogdande said it was likely the mountaineers had been caught in a "huge avalanche" and their chances of survival were now "almost zero," according to the US-based news organisation.
Mr Moran on May 25 sent a message saying the advance team of eight were camped and preparing to ascend the summit known only as Peak 6447m, the British Association of Mountain Guides said in a statement on Monday.
When British deputy leader Mark Thomas - who had remained lower down the mountain with three others - didn't hear again from the advance team he went to search for them, BMG understands.
He found a very large avalanche had hit the route Mr Moran's team was expected to have taken.
Ms McCance didn't travel to Nanda Devi to seek thrills but rather for spiritual nourishment, Mr Goldsack said on Monday before it was reported the backpack had been spotted.
"It was not about ticking a box, it was not about wearing a t-shirt that said 'I've climbed a virgin peak' or 'I've climbed this mountain or I've climbed that'," he said.
"It was about the seeking of the wild places and enjoying and taking nourishment from that - that was the reason for her."
Mr Goldsack said he loved his wife "as much as I ever have".
'Deeply saddened'
The Moran family said they're deeply saddened by the "tragic events" and described it as a "harrowing time" for all involved.
"As a family, we share the same emotions that all next of kin are experiencing in not knowing the whereabouts or wellbeing of those closest to us," the statement, released online on Monday, says.
The Moran family want the search to continue until the fate of the team can be determined.
"We are pressing for the search area to be widened and continued until such time as firm evidence is found to ascertain the wellbeing or otherwise of all those in the climbing group," the family said before the backpack was spotted.
A rescue team of up to 20 people - including members of the Indian-Tibetan border police and the state disaster management force - left Munsiyari on foot on Saturday morning local time, Indian Mountaineering Foundation spokesman Amit Chowdhury has said.
It was expected to take them at least three days to reach the avalanche site.
Deadly season
Along with its air force, India has deployed elite paramilitary units to help with the search.
It has been one of the deadliest climbing seasons in the Himalayas for several years. More than 20 people have been killed in the mountains, including 11 on Mount Everest, the world's highest peak that has been plagued by poor weather, inexperienced climbers and overcrowding.
Nanda Devi, at 7,816 m (25,643 feet), and its sister mountain, Nanda Devi East, are among the world's most challenging peaks and only a handful of people have climbed them.
The leader of the missing group, Martin Moran, was the first person to summit Changuch, another peak in the area, and was known as a "godfather" of guiding in the Himalayas, according to a video diary of Rob Jarvis, who accompanied him on that expedition in 2009.
Climbers in Munsiyari town in the northern Himalayan state of Uttarakhand, India on 13 May, 2019. Source: Himalayan Run & Trek Pvt. Ltd.
"He was very well versed with the area, but the route they were taking is not usually travelled," Gunjiyal said.
Many of the other missing climbers are veterans but with little experience of Nanda Devi and its surrounding peaks, he said.
Additional reporting: Reuters
