Third soldier’s body found in avalanche-hit Kargil army post

Hopes of finding any survivors ended on Friday when the Indian Army extricated the body of the third missing soldier from 15 feet of snow, taking the death toll of troopers to three in the avalanche that swept away their post on the Line of Control (LoC) in the Batalik sector of Kargil on Thursday. 

Elsewhere, army rescuers saved several soldiers after multiple avalanches hit their posts in the Kaksar sector of the LoC in Kargil.

The massive avalanche on Thursday had swept away the high-altitude army post, burying five soldiers under huge mounds of snow in Batalik. Two of the soldiers were rescued by specialised avalanche rescue teams (ARTs) and three others were buried under the snow.

Later, the army retrieved two soldiers from the snow, but they succumbed to their injuries. The third body was retrieved from under 15 feet of snow on Friday morning. “The body of the fifth soldier was recovered. There are three fatal casualties in total,” said Colonel Rajesh Kalia, a defence spokesman. The slain soldiers have been identified as Havildar Prabhu Shayu Kirke, Lance Naik Bihari Marandi of Pakur and Sepoy Kuldeep Lakra, all hailing from Jharkhand.