10 soldiers trapped in avalanche in Siachen Glacier

Ten Army soldiers, including a junior commissioned officer, were buried alive when a massive avalanche swept through their post in the Siachen Glacier area at a height of 19,600 feet in eastern Ladakh on Wednesday morning. Col. S.D. Goswami, defence spokesman at the Army’s Northern Command in Udhampur, said: “Rescue operations by specialised Army and Air Force teams are under way.”

Army sources said the avalanche hit the glacier’s southern side at dawn. Col. Goswami said the post was manned by the JCO and nine soldiers at that time.

The Siachen Glacier is in the eastern Karakoram range in the Himalayas, northeast of Point NJ9842, where the Line of Control ends.

As both India and Pakistan claim it, this stretch of snow is called the world’s highest battlefield. Altogether 869 Indian Army personnel have lost their lives in Siachen due to climatic conditions since 1984.