Two soldiers were killed and two others went missing when an avalanche hit their vehicle at Chang la pass near Tangste in leh district of ladakh in Jammu & Kashmir on Friday evening. Two soldiers have been airlifted to Chandigarh for treatment. Sources said a convoy of Army’s Supplies Corps was proceeding towards an area bordering China on Friday evening when an avalanche hit three vehicles at Chang la pass. The area is around 80 kilometers from leh near Pangong Tso lake.
Sources said the bodies of two soldiers Shiv Kumar and Anmol Pratap were recovered from the area while two wounded soldiers Girvar Singh and Pratap Singh were shifted to Base hospital in leh for treatment. They were later flown to Chandigarh on Saturday morning in a critical State. The search for two missing soldiers, identified as havildar Bhone NR and sepoy Suresh Kumar, continued when last reports came in from the area.
Heavy rain triggered by Western Disturbances had lashed Jammu & Kashmir over the past week. While hundreds of houses were damaged, around two dozen people died after being hit by avalanches and landslides. Sixteen members of two families died when their house caved in and collapsed at laden village of central Kashmir’s Budgam district.