Rescue operations affected due to bad weather conditions
Five junior commissioned officers were among 16 Army personnel killed in two massive avalanches that struck military posts on Wednesday along the Line of Control in central and north Kashmir. Three soldiers are still missing, the Defence Ministry said.
Srinagar-based Ministry spokesman Lt. Col. J.S. Brar said the area was not prone to avalanches. Rescue operations were affected due to heavy snow and bad weather conditions.
The first avalanche hit the Army post at Sonmarg in Ganderbal district in central Kashmir at about 4.45 p.m. While the majority of troops were rescued, one Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) and two jawans lost their lives, the spokesman said.
The deceased were identified as naib subedar Mahadev Gain, sepoy Puvaneswaran (both of Army Service Corps) and rifleman Amit Sharma of the Territorial Army. Nine personnel were rescued, while one JCO, 3 jawans and 2 civil porters were injured.
Second avalanche
The second avalanche that occurred around 10 p.m. in the Dawar area of Gurez Valley in Bandipore district of north Kashmir, resulted in the death of 13 personnel. While 13 were rescued, three are still reported missing.
Those killed were subedar Desh Raj; R.S. Poonia, S.N. Yadav, and U.B. Hirve (all naib subedars); havaldar Om Prakash Baitha; Vinay Kumar Bharati, Dinesh Kumar, Sagar Biswas and Probir Sarkar (sepoys), Ankit Kumar, S. Muni Samy, Nawle Manoj and Shyju J.P. (craftsmen). All the deceased were from the Corps of Electronics and Mechanical Engineering.
Defence Minister A.K. Antony, while expressing grief over the deaths, said his thoughts were with the relatives of those who were killed in the line of duty. Wishing speedy recovery to those injured, he said the government would provide relief and rehabilitation to the affected families.
Keywords: Kashmir avalanche, jawans death
We offer our condolence to the members of the bereaved families.It is really unfortunate that we lost our brave soldiers not in a battle,but they fell pray to lack of better management for managing damages from natural disaster.Let us learn lessons from this tragedy,so that such tragedies do not happen in future.
Really sad..... Our politicians should always remember that there are real heroes on the boundary who protect us so that a nation of dream could be achieved. we must work hard to accomplish their dreams.
heartily SALUTE to the Braves.
My condolence for the armed forces personals who have lost their life safeguarding ours. Hope the authorities would help their families.
Dear Sir,
It is utterly tragic that meteo department could not provide right information about the risk of Avalanche in right time. In 21st century India, this should not be acceptable. It is a painful reminder of improving our forecasting capabilities.
regards,
I felt very bad to read this article. My heartful condolence for the
jawans' families. I pray for their peaceful resting.
RIP..real heros
May their souls rest in peace!!
Its courageous and honour to the Army personnels due to death from
natural disasters such as avalances.The brave soldiers who work in
extreme colds to safe guards border security,the states ordinary people,
civil rights,the lands law and for the country.This army personnels
should get respected.
It's sad to learn people in high altitude, who are protecting our boundary, are so vulnerable in natural calamities. There must be some mechanism by which we can alert these people about any possible eventualities. We can have EWS for these purposes as well.
We simply cannot lose our precious resources like this........
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