Indian officials have a plan to retrieve five bodies spotted during the hunt for eight mountain climbers missing in the Himalayas.
The group – thought to be four Britons, two Americans, one Australian and an Indian liaison officer – disappeared on May 26 in the Nanda Devi region of the Himalayas after an avalanche.
Led by British mountain guide Martin Moran, from Achintee, Lochcarron, the team was attempting to reach the top of an unclimbed peak in a remote area.
The search for the remaining three mountaineers was suspended due to poor weather conditions.
District magistrate Dr Vijay Kumar Jogdande said the bodies spotted on Monday are thought to be from the missing expedition, and are presumed dead.
Dr Jogdande also said state officials have devised a plan to use helicopters and a ground team to retrieve the bodies and search for the others.
However this needs approval from the Indian government in New Delhi due to the difficult terrain and risk of another avalanche.
Maninder Kohli, a mountaineer who runs a trekking company from New Delhi that has taken groups to Nanda Devi East base camp, said the snow level in the Indian Himalayas this year has been “abnormally high”.
He added: “Apparently the walk up to the base camp alone was a tedious task because of the snow accumulation.”
Mr Moran has been a mountain guide since 1985 and set up his company – Moran Mountain, based in Strathcarron in the Scottish Highlands – with his wife Joy, while their grown-up children Hazel and Alex also work for the business.
In an earlier statement, the Moran family said: “We are deeply saddened by the tragic events unfolding in the Nanda Devi region of the Indian Himalayas.”
Family friend Mark Charlton earlier told the P&J it was fair to make an assumption that hope was fading for anyone to be found alive. Mr Charlton, the president of British Mountain Guides, called Mr Moran “fantastically enthusiastic” and said he had a “love of life.”
The rescued group, who had stayed back at the second base camp, were brought down on Sunday and given first aid at a hospital in the town of Pithoragarh before later being discharged.
They are Mark Thomas, 44, Zachary Quain, 32, Kate Armstone, 39, and Ian Wade, 45.