Army Major, 5 civilians killed in Kashmir avalanches, house collapses

Srinagar: Six persons including four members of a family and an Army officer were on Wednesday killed and several others injured as snow avalanches swept several areas across Kashmir Valley.

The scenic Valley and neighbouring areas are receiving heavy snowfalls for the past few days disrupting normal life in many parts whereas several roads including vital Srinagar-Jammu highway have been shut mainly due to accumulation of snow and landslides. Power supply to many areas has been snapped too. The authorities have issued avalanche warning for higher reaches of the State, advising people not to venture into these areas.

Major Amit Sagar was killed and a few soldiers received minor injuries after a camp of the 115 Battalion of Territorial Army was swept away by an avalanche in Sonamarg area, about 100-km north of summer capital Srinagar, on Wednesday morning, the police and Army said.

Defence spokesman Colonel Rajesh Kalia told this newspaper that other soldiers earlier reported missing following the incident have been rescued. “None of them received major injury and no one is missing,” he said.

Reacting to earlier reports that five soldiers were killed and an equal number of others wounded when swept by the avalanche he said, “I wonder where from they got this information.” A statement issued by the J&K police here in the evening, however, said “Rescue operation is going on to save rest of the persons” (sic).

Earlier four members of a family died as an avalanche buried their house in 2,580 m high Gurez area near the Line of Control (LoC) in Bandipore district. One person was killed while he was clearing snow from the roof of his house in Kralpora village of frontier Kupwara district.

The police officials said that an avalanche struck at Badugam in Tulail area of Gurez, early Wednesday and buried the house of Habibullah Lone. The house collapsed under the debris of the avalanche resulting in death of 55-year-old Lone, his wife Azizi (50), 22-year-old son Irfan and daughter Gulshan (19). Lone's another son, Reyaz Ahmad, was rescued by the authorities and admitted to a hospital, the officials said.

At Kralpora in Kupwara, a house collapsed trapping two persons under the debris for more than forty minutes. One of them Abdul Gani Ganai who was earlier seen by neighbours clearing snow from its roof was found dead under the debris by the rescuers, the police sources said.

Two residential houses collapsed in central district of Budgam district after heavy snowfall and one house was damaged in Srinagar’s Panthachowk area, the sources said. Many areas in the Valley’s Budgam, Bandipore, Ganderbal and Kupwara areas have received five to eight feet snow during past three days, reports received here said.

The police said it launched a rescue operation in Bandipora district and moved 25 families consisting of 150 members to safer places. While ten of these families were rescued from avalanche –prone Khadiyall and Ismarg areas of Gurez, the rest were removed to a safer location in neighbouring Kanzalwal village. Also, two pregnant women of Shalkot and Judinambal areas of Sopore in neighbouring Baramulla district were shifted to hospital for treatment after receiving SOS calls from their families, the police said.

Surface and air links between Kashmir and rest of the country were cut off on Wednesday due to snowfall in the Valley as the 294-km Srinagar-Jammu National Highway was closed for traffic and all flights to Srinagar Airport were cancelled.

“The Srinagar-Jammu National Highway has been closed for traffic due to snowfall which has rendered the road slippery. Efforts are on to make the road traffic worthy at the earliest,” an official of the Traffic Control Department told PTI. Most of the flights to and from Srinagar International Airport were cancelled due to poor visibility.

The weatherman had predicted that snowfalls will continue for two more days in different parts of Jammu and Kashmir.

Kashmir’s divisional administration Kashmir Wednesday issued a fresh high danger avalanche warning valid from January 25 to January 26 for avalanche prone areas in the division (Kashmir Valley and Ladakh). “High danger avalanche warning valid for next 24-hours exists for avalanche prone slopes above 2,800 meter attitude in Kupwara, Bandipora, Anantnag, Baramulla, Ganderbal, Kulgam, and Budgam districts” a statement issued by it here said. The DC of the Valley ten districts and Leh and Kargil of Ladakh have been asked to advise people not to venture in avalanche prone areas and to keep clearing snow depositions from roof tops of their houses to avoid damages.

The statement also said that higher reaches of Kashmir, Ladakh and hilly areas of Jammu are likely to receive heavy snowfall during the period. “This may lead to closure of National Highway and disruption of surface and air transport. Further, movement in snowbound hilly and sloppy areas is not advisable during next 28 to 72 hours,” the statement said.