Exploiting a very narrow window of fair weather, army aviation helicopters, in a daring act, succeeded in moving mortal remains of nine brave-hearts, tweeted additional directorate general of public information (ADGPI), Indian Army.
Battling inclement weather, Indian Army undertook a daredevil mission on Saturday when they airlifted mortal remains of nine martyrs from the world's highest battlefield of Siachen to the base camp for their onward journey to Leh or Khardungla.
Hostile weather conditions had been hampering the evacuation of bodies of nine soldiers from the Saichen glacier for the last 10 days. Tragedy had struck the glacier on February 3 when 10 soldiers, including a junior commissioned officer (JCO), were swept away by a massive avalanche that buried their Sonam post at the altitude of 19,600 feet.
"Exploiting a very narrow window of fair weather, army aviation helicopters, in a daring act, succeeded in moving mortal remains of nine brave-hearts," tweeted additional directorate general of public information (ADGPI), Indian Army.
Mortal remains of all the nine soldiers were moved from the northern glacier to airstrip close to base camp before being airlifted to the base camp. "Weather continuing to be extremely adverse. All options being considered to move them further to Leh or Khardungla if weather opens up," added ADGPI-Indian Army.
Of the 10 slain soldiers, four hailed from Tamil Nadu, three from Karnataka and one each from Maharashtra, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh. The slain have been identified as Subedar Nagesha TT, Lance Naik Hanamanthappa Koppad, Sepoy Mahesha PN, all hailing from Karnataka.
Four martyrs from Tamil Nadu have been identified Havildar Elumalai M, Lance Havildar S Kumar, Sepoy Ganesan G and Sepoy Rama Moorthy N. Three other martyrs include Lance Naik Sudheesh of Kerala, Sepoy Mustaq Ahmed of Andhra Pradesh and Sepoy nursing assistant Suryawanshi SV of Maharashtra.
"An FIR has been lodged. Postmortem of the bodies will be held. Army helicopters did a wonderful job by bringing the mortal remains despite inclement weather," said Colonel SD Goswami, defence spokesman at Northern Command headquarters.
Officers who have commanded the bravehearts in different hostile zones across Jammu and Kashmir, have paid tributes to them. Leading the tribe are the.
"After completion of the stint on the line of control the unit was deployed for counter terrorist operations in depth area. Here was the first time Elumalai (Havildar Elumalai M of Madras regiment) saw action and he performed with aplomb and played a major role in elimination of two terrorists. During Operation Parakaram, he was at the forefront again and was part of the mine laying and mine recovery parties. He was also the lead in the unit training cell which produced many instructors," said a former commanding officer of Havildar Elumalai M.
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