Siachen avalanche: Body of second soldier found

The death toll in Friday’s avalanche in Turtuk area, close to the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir’s Ladakh region, rose to two after rescuers on Saturday found the corpse of the missing Army jawan buried under snow. The victim has been identified as Rifleman Sunil Rai.

At 8 am on Friday, a military foot patrol was hit by an avalanche in Turtuk area and two jawans were swept away. Lance Havildar Bhawan Tamang, who was rescued from beneath several feet of snow immediately after the incident, died of critical injuries at a medical facility in the area later in the day.

A 24-hour search led to the discovery of the frozen lifeless body of the other jawan — Sunil Rai — under several feet of snow on Saturday morning, defence spokesman Col. S.D. Goswami said. Turtuk, at a height of 10,000 feet above sea level in Nubra Valley, is quite close to the LoC and was part of Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir before the 1971 war. Turtuk is one of the gateways to the Siachen glacier.

Lt. Gen. D.S. Hooda, Northern Command chief, expressed his deep condolences to the families of the victims. He added, “The Indian Army fraternity stands shoulder to shoulder with the bereaved families in their hour of grief.”

Col. Goswami said the mortal remains of the soldiers are being evacuated from the avalanche area, after which a wreath-laying ceremony will be held to honour them. “Thereafter, they will be transported by air to their native places where they will be accorded funerals with full military honours,” he said, adding that Lance Havildar Tamang is survived by his wife, a six-year-old daughter and his parents, whereas Rifleman Rai is survived by his parents and two younger brothers.

In a similar incident, two Army jawans were swept away by an avalanche triggered by a mild earthquake at an Army post in Biamah area, at an altitude of 17,500 feet above sea level, close to the LoC in Kargil sector. One of them, Sujit, was immediately rescued and is recovering in a military hospital. But his colleague, Sepoy Vijay Kumar K, was missing after the mishap and his frozen corpse was retrieved from under 15 feet of snow three days later by rescuers. The victim was a resident of Vallaramapuram village of Thirunelvelli district, TN. On February 3, nine Army soldiers, including a junior commissioned officer, were buried alive when a huge wall of frost and snow crashed into Siachen glacier, smothering a vast area which also had an Army camp on its southern side at an altitude 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” under 25 feet of frost and snow, though in critical condition, on February 8, six days after the incident. But he died at the Army’s Research and Referral Hospital in Delhi three days later.