Srinagar: Five soldiers have gone missing along the Line of Control (LoC) in Kashmir’s Gurez and Naugam sectors, following a heavy snowfall in the Valley since Monday, a defence official said on Tuesday.
Jammu and Kashmir is experiencing a widespread snowfall and rains with the meteorological office forecasting present weather conditions to continue till Thursday due to a western disturbance over the state. “Two soldiers fell down a slope in the Naugam sector (Kupwa-ra district) while three others went missing from a forward post in the Kanzalwan sub-sector of Gurez (Bandipora district) during the heavy snowfall,” Defence spokesman Colonel Rajesh Kalia said here.
Search and rescue operations are on to trace the five missing soldiers, he said. Earlier, a police official had said that the three soldiers in the Gurez sector went missing after an avalanche hit their post at Baktoor near the LoC. An Army porter is missing since Monday after he came under an avalanche in Tulail in Gurez.
Meanwhile, over 70 people, stranded after heavy rains and snowfall at Surankote, were rescued.
