Army pulls out lifeless, frozen body of jawan from 15ft deep snow in Kargil
Srinagar: The Indian Army on Sunday located and pulled out the frozen lifeless body of Sepoy Vijay Kumar from 15ft deep snow, after three days of exhaustive search operations in Kargil. The army jawan along with another soldier was swept away by an avalanche in frontier Kargil district of Jammu and Kashmir earlier this week.
“Rescue teams of the Army on the third day of a gruelling search operation, managed to recover the mortal remains of Sepoy Vijay Kumar K from under twelve feet of snow,” defence spokesman Lt. Col. N.N. Joshi said. He added the search operation continued for three days despite adverse weather conditions and up to 15 feet of snow accumulated in the area of avalanche occurrence. Avalanche rescue dogs, deep penetration radars and metal detectors were also pressed into service in the rescue operation.
The victim was a resident of Vallaramapuram village of Thirunelvelli district of Tamil Nadu and is survived by his parents and two younger sisters. “Army is in the process of evacuating his mortal remains from the area after which they will be moved to his native place where the cremation ceremony will take place with full military honours,” the defence spokesman said. Lt. Gen. DS Hooda, Army Commander (Northern Command) has expressed his deep condolences to the family of Sepoy Kumar.
vijgd Sepoy Vijay Kumar's mortal remains were retrieved by the Indian army
At 10.45 pm on March 17, an avalanche triggered by a mild earthquake hit an Army post at an altitude of 17,500 feet above sea level close to the Line of Control (LoC) in Kargil sector. Sepoy Kumar was along with another soldier Sujit on surveillance duty in the area. Both were swept away by the avalanche and while Sepoy Surjit was rescued by a team of Army rescuers early next day, sepoy Kumar was missing since. Defence spokesman said that sepoy Sujit is stable and recovering at a nearby hospital.
On February 3, nine Army soldiers including a junior commissioned officer were buried alive when a huge wall of frost and snow crashed into the remote Siachen Glacier, smothering a vast area which also had an Army camp located on it in the southern side of the area at a height of 19,600 feet in eastern Ladakh. A tenth soldier Lance Naik Hanamanthappa Koppad, a resident of Betadur village in Dharwad district of Karnataka, was miraculously pulled out alive from an ‘arctic tent’ buried under 25 feet of frost and snow though in critical condition by the rescuers on February 8, six days after the incident. But he too died in Army's Research and Referral Hospital three days later.
Meanwhile, J&K police has rescued eleven families of civilians in neighbouring Ganderbal district after landslides triggered by incessant rains in the area hit their houses on Sunday. Kashmir Valley with neighbouring areas is witnessing heavy rains and, at many places, snowfall and snowstorms for the past few days causing flash floods in some parts of the region.
A police statement issued here on Sunday said that a retaining wall at village Rangil in Ganderbal district collapsed, damaging two nearby residential houses. In another incident a major landslide hit half a dozen houses in village Wanyarm Wangth of the same district. The police rescuers evacuated eleven families from these areas to safer locations, it said.
The authorities have issued avalanche and mudslide warnings for several places in the districts of Doda, Kishtwar, Ramban, Kupwara, Baramulla, Bandipore, Kargil, Anantnag, Shopian and Kulgam of the state. People have been advised to remain indoors in avalanche prone areas of the districts where as school in some parts of the State have been closed till further orders as a precautionary measure, officials said.
The vital Srinagar-Jammu highway remained closed for the fourth day on Sunday, disrupting supplies of essentials including petroleum products to the Valley. Also, dozens of passenger vehicles and trucks have been stranded en route. The Srinagar-Kargil highway is also closed due to hostile weather conditions.
