Four Army personnel, who were guarding the frontiers of the nation in adverse weather conditions, sacrificed their lives in two different incidents of snow avalanches near the Line of Control in North Kashmir late Tuesday evening.
This is the third incident of avalanche hit in the region in the last over two weeks. Due to local conditions, the dead bodies of the soldiers were recovered early Wednesday morning. Official sources said, “an Indian Army post in Tangdhar sector of North Kashmir was hit by an avalanche on Tuesday afternoon. The rescue teams Wednesday morning recovered three dead bodies while the fourth soldier was retrieved safely.
Since November 18, the Indian Army has lost a total number of 10 soldiers while two civilian porters also lost their lives after they were buried in snow avalanche in Siachen glacier at a height of over 18,000 feet.
According to Col Rajesh Kalia, Ministry of Defence spokesman in Srinagar, “an avalanche hit a post in Tangdhar sector and an Army patrol was hit by a blizzard in Gurez sector on December 3”.
He said, the rescue teams managed to locate and retrieve all personnel from both the locations.
Despite best efforts by the rescue and medical teams, three Army personnel in Tangdhar sector and one Army personnel in Gurez sector succumbed”, he added. On November 30, two Indian Army soldiers were killed after they were trapped in an avalanche in southern Siachen Glacier at an altitude of approximately 18,000 feet.
On 18 November, four Army soldiers and two civilian porters died after they were trapped in an avalanche on the Siachen Glacier’s northern sector.