Jammu: Ten army personnel, including a Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO), were on Wednesday trapped under a mass of snow after an avalanche hit a military post at Siachen Glacier in Jammu and Kashmir.
The avalanche hit a high altitude post situated at 19000 feet in Northern Glacier sector in Ladakh region in wee hours of Wednesday morning, Defence PRO at Udhampur-based Northern Command Col S D Goswami said.
"In the early hours of today, 10 soldiers were hit by an avalanche at the northern Siachen Glacier while on patrol," Goswami said.
An army statement said the post was being manned by one junior officer and nine soldiers when the avalanche struck.
"Rescue operations by specialized teams from Army and Air Force are underway to rescue the soldiers. The rescue operations are being closely monitored from Leh and Udhampur," the statement added.
One JCO and 9 other ranks of Indian Army came under the avalanche.
The Indian Army and Air Force have launched rescue operations in the area to save the trapped personnel.
Indian troops patrol the Siachen Glacier, dubbed the world's highest battlefield, in the Kashmir region.
Avalanches and landslides are common in the area during the winter and temperatures there can drop as low as minus 60 degrees Celsius (140 degrees Fahrenheit).
In January, four soldiers were killed by an avalanche, while last year another four died when their vehicle was buried under an avalanche near Leh, the main city of the high-altitude region known as Ladakh.
An estimated 8,000 troops have died on the glacier since 1984, almost all of them from avalanches, landslides, frostbite, altitude sickness or heart failure rather than combat.
