india

Updated: Mar 02, 2019 13:05 IST

Army rescue teams have managed to recover the body of one soldier who was among five soldiers who had been missing for the last 12 days after an avalanche in Namgia Dogri outpost along the China border in Kinnaur district.

Army teams assisted by experts from Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) are looking for the other four missing army men.

“The deceased jawan has been identified as Rajnish Rishi who was on patrol along with five others when they were swept away by an avalanche at Namgia Dogri in Kinnaur on February 20. Rescue teams of Army after, a grueling operation today, managed to recover the mortal remains of the missing soldier from 20 feet snow,” said additional district magistrate Pooh, Shiv Mohan when reached over phone.

Also read | Kinnaur avalanche: Nine days on, rescuers speed up efforts to search for missing soldiers

The search operations have been continuing for the past 11 days despite adverse weather conditions. There is up to 20 to 25 feet snow in the avalanche-hit area at Namgia Dogri in Shipkila sector.

“Rescue dogs, deep penetration radars and metal detectors have been pressed into service, he said. The Army men dug through 20 feet of snow to recover the missing soldier’s body. They used motored chainsaws to cut through the hardened snow to locate and recover the bodies,” Shiv Mohan said.

Rajnish Rishi, a rifleman with the 7th JAK Rifles, had gone missing on February 20 after an avalanche hit an army patrol near Namgia Dogri forward post in Shipkila sector.

Six soldiers were buried under the snow in an avalanche on February 20. Havildar Rakesh Kumar, who was rescued on February 20 only, he succumbed to his injuries in hospital in Pooh later.

Also read | Army deploys more men, machines to trace soldiers missing after avalanche

Indian Army along with the Indo-Tibetan Border Police, personnel from the Ladakh Scouts and engineers from army’s General Reserve Engineer Corps are carrying out the rescue operation. But inclement weather conditions leading to snow blizzards and intermittent snow spells have hampered the rescue operations so far.

A team of experts had arrived in Pooh two days ago to assist the army in the rescue operations. The rescuers had also recovered a cell phone from the avalanches site during the rescue operations. Those who are still missing include Naik Videsh Chand, Rifleman Govind Bahadur Chatri, Rifleman Arjun Kumar and Rifleman Nitin Rana. All the missing soldiers are from the 7th Jammu and Kasshmir Rifles

Himachal shares a 260-km-long porous border with China. Of the total border length, 140km lies along Kinnaur and 80km of border is along Lahaul and Spiti district. The international border is jointly manned by the Indian Army and ITBP.