Ladakh: Three Indian Army personnel, including two Agniveers, were killed on Tuesday after a massive avalanche struck the Siachen base camp in Ladakh.
According to reports, rescue efforts are underway in the glacier, often described as the “world’s highest battlefield.”
The personnel, all from the Mahar regiment and natives of Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, and Jharkhand, were trapped under snow for nearly five hours before succumbing. An Army captain was pulled out alive.
Avalanches are frequent in the Siachen Glacier, which lies at about 20,000 feet on the northern tip of the Line of Control, where temperatures can plunge to minus 60 degrees Celsius.
In recent years, several such incidents have claimed lives.
In 2021, two army personnel died after an avalanche hit sub-sector Haneef. Two years earlier, in 2019, four personnel and two porters were killed when an avalanche struck a patrol near 18,000 feet. The deadliest avalanche in recent memory occurred in 2022 in Arunachal Pradesh’s Kameng sector, where seven soldiers were found dead three days after being swept away.
