Army chief proud of sepoy from Tamil Nadu
Srinagar: Sepoy Vijay Kumar K, an Army jawan whose frozen body was pulled from beneath 15 feet deep snow by rescuers on Sunday, days after he along with another soldier was swept away by an avalanche in frontier Kargil district of Jammu and Kashmir, was on Tuesday accorded full military honours at a solemn wreath laying ceremony at Leh..
Later his mortal remains were flown to Delhi where Army Chief Gen. Dalbir Singh paid homage by laying wreath on the body at Base Hospital, Delhi Cantonment.
The Chief of Army Staff, expressed his deep condolences to the family of 23-year-old Kumar and said the Army was proud of soldiers like him, “who despite great difficulties in the most inhospitable conditions, defend our borders with utmost dedication”.
The mortal remains of the victim are being flown to Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday night from where it would be taken to Vallaramapuram, the victim’s native village in Tamil Nadu’s Tirunelveli district.
“The cremation will take place at Vallaramapuram with full military honours, tentatively on Wednesday” defence spokesman Col. S.D. Goswami said. At the wreath laying ceremony held at Ladakh’s cultural capital Leh, senior Army officers paid homage to Sepoy Kumar.
At 10.45 pm on March 17, an avalanche, triggered by a mild earthquake. hit an Army post in Biamah area at an altitude of 17,500 feet, 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. While Sepoy Sujit was rescued by a team of Army rescuers early next day, Sepoy Kumar went missing. A three-day search operation during which avalanche rescue dogs, deep penetration radars and metal detectors were also pressed into service by rescuers, led to the discovery of his frozen body lying beneath 15 feet of snow.