Five Army jawans, who were trapped as an avalanche struck near Shipki La on the India-China border in Himachal Pradesh three days ago, were still untraceable, officials said on Saturday.
Six jawans of the Army’s 7 JAK Rifles — four from Himachal Pradesh, one each from Uttarakhand and Jammu and Kashmir — were buried under snow as the avalanche struck in Himachal Pradesh’s Kinnaur district at 11 a.m. on Wednesday.
The body of one of the jawans, Havaldar Rakesh Kumar, was recovered the same day while the five others are still missing.
About 220 Army and 30 Indo-Tibetan Border Police jawans restarted the search and rescue operation on Saturday at 7 a.m., Kinnaur district public relations officer Mamta Negi said. She said that two teams from Jammu and Kashmir and a sniffer dog have been brought for the search operation.
According to a Defence spokesperson, rock drills and chainsaws have been deployed.
The track leading to the avalanche site is under heavy snow, he said, adding that the Army and the Border Roads Organisation personnel have partially cleared it.
‘Slow pace’
Expressing dismay at “slow” pace of the rescue and search operation, Himachal Congress president Kuldeep Singh Rathore urged Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur to take up the matter with the Union Defence Minister and carry out the operation more intensively.
On Friday, the last rites of Havaldar Rakesh Kumar were performed with full military honours at his native Ghumarpur village in Bilaspur district, a Defence spokesperson said.
