SHILLONG, March 27: Tennyson Khongnoh from Lyngkyrdem was awarded Grade A by the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering (NIM) Uttarkashi, Uttarakhand after successfully completing a Search and Rescue course with the institute. A member of the Meghalaya Sport Climbing and Mountaineering Association (MeSCMA), Khongnoh earned the highest grade handed by mountaineering institutes for their performance in the training of search and rescue.
The course, held from March 1-21, saw approximately 90 participants from across the country including 3 from Northeastern states complete their training.
Over the duration of the course, trainees usually practice in high altitudes of the Himalayas that tend to include technical rope access on rocky cliffs, snow, glaciers, crevasses and accumulate 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.