Avalanche Hit Claims Three Indian Soldiers in Siachen Glacier
Avalanche at 12,000-feet Siachen base camp in Ladakh claims three soldiers’ lives; rescue teams retrieve bodies
Srinagar: A devastating avalanche reportedly hit the 12,000 feet high Siachen Glacier base camp in eastern Ladakh, claiming the lives of three Indian Army soldiers.
The victims were identified as Sepoy M Kumar, Agniveer D Rakesh, and Agniveer Neeraj Kumar Choudhary, two of whom were recruits under the Agnipath scheme.
The reports said that the incident occurred on Sunday, with confirmation reported on Tuesday.
Indian Army rescue teams were swiftly deployed, recovering the soldiers' bodies despite the challenging conditions of the world's highest battlefield. However, a report said that the soldiers remained buried under the moulds of snow for five hours before the rescuers reached them.
The Siachen Glacier, a 76-km stretch in the Karakoram range, has been under India’s control since Operation Meghdoot in 1984, amid territorial disputes with Pakistan. The region, marked by extreme weather and frequent avalanches, has claimed nearly 1,200 Indian soldiers’ lives since 1984, primarily due to environmental hazards like frostbite, hypoxia, and unstable snow packs besides after being swept by avalanches.
In 2021, two soldiers were killed in an avalanche in the Haneef sub-sector.
In 2019, four soldiers and two porters perished in separate avalanches.
A similar incident claimed the lives of ten soldiers inside an Army post in 2016.