10 Army soldiers buried in Siachen avalanche, IAF joins rescue operation

Srinagar: Ten Army soldiers including a junior commissioned officer were buried alive when a massive avalanche swept through their post in Siachen glacier area at a height of 19,600 feet in eastern Ladakh on Wednesday morning.

Defence spokesman at Army’s Northern Command. Colonel S.D. Goswami, said in garrison town of Udhampur, “Rescue operations by specialized teams from Army and Air Force are underway”. He added that these operations are being closely monitored from Leh and Udhampur.

Army sources said that the avalanche hit the post located in the southern side of the Siachen glacier at dawn. Col. Goswami said that the post was being manned by the JCO and nine soldiers when the incident occurred.

The Siachen Glacier is located in the eastern Karakoram range in the Himalayas, just northeast of the point NJ9842 where the Line of Control (LoC) ends. As both India and Pakistan have claim over it, the stretch of snow is dubbed as the world’s highest battlefield.

As many as 869 Indian Army personnel have lost their lives on the Siachen due to climatic conditions and environmental and other factors since the Army launched Operation Meghdoot to take the control of the strategically vital glacier in 1984 till December 2015. In a recent such incident, four soldiers were killed by an avalanche in January this year.

Prior to 1984, neither India nor Pakistan had any military forces in this area. In spite of avalanches and landslides claiming lives of the soldier routinely in the area particularly during the winter when temperatures can drop as low as minus 60 degrees Celsius, the Indian military authorities maintain that the Army will stay in the region for strategic advantages.