Rescue teams find four more bodies buried under the snow; In another avalanche 11 personnel went missing
Hopes of finding any survivors faded-out on Friday when Indian army rescuers extricated four bodies of the missing soldiers from the huge mounds of snow taking the death toll to 14 in the Gurez avalanche tragedy.
Of the 14 slain soldiers, three are from Maharashtra, two each from Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, and one each from Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Haryana.
Tragedy struck the Indian army on the Line of Control after two massive snow avalanches swept away their post and patrol, leaving 10 soldiers dead and four others missing in Gurez sector on Wednesday evening.
Ten bodies were retrieved by the Avalanche Rescue Teams on Thursday. But the operation to find out the missing four soldiers was halted in the night due to the darkness and bad weather.
Avalanche Rescue Teams resumed the search operation early on Friday hoping to find the survivors. After hours of search, they located bodies of missing soldiers which were buried under snow.
Local villagers joined hands with the rescue teams and rushed to the sites in the high altitude area of Mahazgund village in Gurez sector.
“Army post near Mahazgund village was struck by an avalanche at around 5 pm on January 25, in which three shelters were buried trapping nine soldiers under snow.
Swift action by few soldiers and timely help of the villagers of Mahazgund saved six soldiers,” said Colonel Rajesh Kalia, defence spokesman at Srinagar.
Colonel Kalia noted that one Junior Commissioned Officer and 10 other Ranks who were on patrol were caught in an avalanche near Niru in Gurez Valley.
“Efforts of the specially equipped Avalanche Rescue Teams continued operation despite the inhospitable terrain, weather conditions and avalanche warnings. Their efforts led to the recovery of mortal remains of those in the patrol,” he said.
Indian army is making arrangements to airlift the mortal remains of the martyrs to their respective native places once the weather improves.
Massive snow avalanches have brought back the horrors of the Siachen glacier tragedy of 2016.
Ten Indian army soldiers including a junior commissioned officer (JCO) were swept away by a massive avalanche at the altitude of 19600 feet in world’s highest battlefield on February 3 last year.
In fact the snowfall has broken record of the last three decades in January at certain places across the Kashmir valley.
Srinagar broke the 10 years record of highest snow in January this year.
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