Siachen miracle: Air pocket may have kept Lance Naik Koppad alive for 6 days

Army soldier Lance Naik Hanumanthappa Koppad was found alive six days after being buried 25 feet under snow on Siachen glacier. The man who was assumed to be dead for those six days, was found alive which is nothing short of a miracle. 

Health experts believe that the same ice that he was buried under may have played a key role in Lance Koppad's survival. 

"Organs are usually transferred or preserved in frozen situation. In the soldier's case, there is a possibility that the ice turned into a saviour which protected him from death," Sameer Shrivastava, head of the department of non-invasive cardiology at Fortis Escorts Heart Institute, tells IANS.

The soldier, who was earlier declared dead by the authorities, was found to be conscious but drowsy and disoriented on Monday after he was located during rescue operation.

He was "severely dehydrated, hypothermic, hypoxic, hypoglycemic and in shock. He was immediately resuscitated by the doctors at the site, who had been there for the past five days in the hope of a survivor," it said. He was treated with warm intravenous fluids, humidified warm oxygen and passive external re-warming.

Soldiers are trained to look for air pockets in case of an avalanche. They are also trained how to clear the snow near the nose and the mouth so that they can continue breathing.