Srinagar: Eleven persons including a junior engineer of Border Roads Organization (BRO)’s BEACON project were killed and two other wounded when swept by three successive avalanches in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kupwara district on Friday.
The bodies of ten of the victims were retrieved from beneath the heaps of snow by the rescuers on Saturday. Among them were a couple, three more women, the daughter of one of them and a toddler, officials said. They added that a couple of persons are reported missing following the series of avalanches hit the area.
“The officer of BEACON’s 109, RCC, identified as M P Singh, a resident of Varansi district of Uttar Pradesh was killed after he was swept away by the avalanche,” the officials said. They added that Singh was on the road clearance duty when the avalanche struck him. The rescuers rushed him to a nearby medical facility run by the Army where doctors declared him brought dead.
They said that most other victims were travelling in a Sumo cab which was swept by an avalanche along Sadhna Top mountain pass close to the Line of Control (LoC) in Kupwara.
Strategically important, Sadhna Top is the peak of Sadhna Pass, a mountain pass located in the vast Shams Bari mountainous range and connects Karnah tehsil of Kupwara with the rest of Jammu and Kashmir. The entire 52-km Chowkibal – Karnah road which passes through elevations of about 3,200 metre is avalanche- prone.
The officials said that two more passengers from another vehicle abandoned by them in view of heavy accumulation of snow on the road also came under an avalanche and were pushed down into a deep gorge. Three more persons were hit by a third avalanche, the reports from Kupwara said.
The officials said that rescue operation was quickly launched jointly by the Army and the J&K police with the help of the locals. They added that a passenger, identified as Ghulam Nabi Bhat (50), a resident of Kulmoona village, was rescued alive on Saturday.
Also driver of vehicle JK09-A 3249, Zahoor Ahmad, and an 8- year-old boy, Suleman, both residents of Karnah tehsil, were rescued immediately after it was hit by an avalanche at around 3.30 PM on Friday.
Parts of Kashmir Valley on Thursday night started receiving fresh snow and rains and an official warning against venturing out in some of the areas in the higher reaches stands valid for next couple of days.
In the second week of December five Indian soldiers were killed following heavy snowfall along the LoC in Kupwara and Bandipore districts.
Minister for Disaster Management, Relief Rehabilitation & Reconstruction, Javaid Mustafa Mir, has announced compensation of Rs. 400,000 to the next kin of each person killed and Rs 12,600 each injured person.
Chief Minister, Mehbooba Mufti, expressed grief and sorrow over the loss of life in avalanches and conveyed her sympathies with the bereaved families and prayed for solace to the departed souls.
