15 Armymen Killed,17 Injured In The Avalanche Hit In Kashmir

Srinagar: In one of the most tragic incidents, 17 Army personnel, including an officer, were on Monday killed and 17 seriously injured when a group of about 350 men were swept away by a snow avalanche while setting up a winter warfare camp at Khilanmarg, 70 kms from here.

The avalanche came down on a 60-strong group as they were going up the sheer ice walls in Khilanmarg with near zero visibility hampering any evasive action by them.

An Army spokesman, Colonel J S Brar, said that 15 men were buried in tonnes of snow and 17 others were extricated and moved to base hospital at Srinagar. While two soldiers were still missing, 26 others have been rescued by nightfall, after which the operations were called off. “A massive avalanche rolled down the Khilanmarg mountain, engulfing a high altitude warfare camp set up by the army,” the official said.

The dead included an officer, Lt Prateek, and 14 other ranks from the Army’s prestigious High Altitude Warfare School (HAWS), he said.

Some of those seriously injured are in a critical condition in a hospital in the scenic tourist spot of Gulmarg.

The group comprising nearly 350 personnel had set out at 0800 hours this morning from Gulmarg and reached Khilanmarg eight kms uphill at a height of over 10,000 feet to set up a winter warfare training camp when they were hit by an avalanche, Col Brar said.

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