The avalanche occurred at around 11am this morning

An army jawan has died and five others are trapped after an avalanche hit the Namgya region of Himachal Pradesh's Kinnaur district on Wednesday.

The avalanche occurred at around 11am. One armyman was rescued but he died on the way to the hospital.

The avalanche hit the army patrol deployed in the Shipki La Sector sector along the Indo-China border while 16 jawans were patrolling the border area. Several other jawans were also trapped; however, they were rescued.

Extensive search and rescue operations by the Indo-Tibetan Police Force is underway. District Police is also helping with the rescue operations.

Rescue operations are on

A spokesperson of the Army said the search operation would go on till the last man was retrieved. A team of about 150 persons is searching for the trapped jawans.

The incident happened at in the Dogri Nala area, which had not been hit by an avalanche before.