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

india

Updated: Mar 01, 2019 11:22 IST

Rescuers on Thursday sped up efforts to search five army soldiers who went missing after an avalanche hit their patrolling party near Namgia Dogri outpost along the Sino-India border on February 20.

“Inclement weather in the region has been the biggest hindrance in operations being carried by the Indian Army and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police to trace the missing soldiers. Today, the operations were scaled up as clear weather gave more window to the search party,” said state chief minister Jai Ram Thakur.

A team of experts from Defence Research Development Organisation also reached the avalanche site to assist army and ITBP personnel engaged in rescue operations, which resumed at 7am.

“More men were deployed today. Locals from Khab and Namgia villages are also helping the search parties,” said Kinnaur deputy commissioner Gopal Chand.

The General Reserve Engineering Force, a wing of the Indian Army, has deployed its machines to clear the track leading to Namgia.

The avalanche was triggered on February 20 when a glacier near Namgia Dogri slid, burying six soldiers of Jammu and Kashmir Rifles when they were on a routine patrol.

One soldier, Rakesh Kumar, was rescued, but he succumbed to his injuries in a hospital at Pooh.