NEW DELHI: Photos of “Yeti footprints” posted online by the Indian Army triggered a social media storm on Tuesday, with users ridiculing the military for propagating theories debunked by science.

The army tweeted three images late on Monday showing a series of foot-shaped impressions, each almost a metre (yard) long in the snow in the Himalayas near the Nepal-China frontier.

“For the first time, an #IndianArmy Moutaineering Expedition Team has sited Mysterious Footprints of mythical beast ‘Yeti’,” the apparently serious tweet on the army’s official account said.

It added the “elusive snowman has only been sighted at Makalu-Barun National Park in the past”, referring to footprints reported by British explorer Eric Shipton in 1951 on the west side of Mount Everest.

Legend has it the “Yeti” or “Abominable Snowman” lives in the Himalayas — but no proof of the large creature has ever been produced.

Published in Dawn, May 1st, 2019