Srinagar: The rescuers have recovered bodies of all ten persons who were swept away in a snow avalanche near Khardung La Pass in Ladakh’s Leh district, army said on Sunday.
On January 18 at 0715 hours, in an unfortunate incident, 10 civilian workers, working as porters for army, got trapped in an avalanche near the Khardung La Pass.
“Massive search and rescue operation called ‘Operation Khardung La Rescue 2019’ was launched to save the 10 individuals who got washed away by the devastating avalanche. Well trained troops from the Siachen Brigade were mobilised immediately. Specially trained Avalanche Rescue Dogs and specialised equipment was also moved to the avalanche site to locate the missing individuals at the earliest,” a defence ministry spokesman said.
Despite the inclement weather, he said, the Army aviation helicopters flew in multiple sorties to induct the troops and equipment required for the rescue operations.”
The joint military- civil task force carried out relentless search operations in an area extending more than a kilometer, braving the odds against inclement weather, extremely low temperatures and intermittent snow fall.
“Unfortunately, none of the 10 individuals survived the initial onslaught of the avalanche but the human spirit and hope persisted and the task force continued with its search,” he said, adding, “By January 25, the Task Force was able to extricate the mortal remains of all ten of the missing individuals after carrying a thorough search of the run out zone relentlessly over nine days.”
