4 soldiers killed after avalanches, blizzard hit Army camps along LoC

NEW DELHI: In yet another grim reminder of the harsh terrain and climatic conditions in which the Indian Army guards the unresolved borders with Pakistan and China, four soldiers were killed in avalanches and blizzards in Tangdhar and Gurez sectors along the Line of Control (LoC) on Tuesday.
Three soldiers were killed when their post in Tangdhar was hit by an avalanche, while another died after his patrol was caught in a blizzard in Gurez."The rescue teams managed to locate and retrieve all the trapped personnel in the two incidents. But despite best efforts by medical teams, the four soldiers succumbed to their injuries," said an officer.
The incidents come soon after two soldiers died in an avalanche in the southern part of the forbidding Siachen Glacier on November 30, while another four soldiers and two civilian porters were similarly killed in the northern glacier on November 18.
Over 1,000 Indian soldiers, including over 35 officers, have lost their lives in the Siachen Glacier-Saltoro Ridge region since April 1984, when India's Operation Meghdhoot pre-empted Pakistan's Operation Ababeel to occupy almost all the dominating heights from 16,000 to 22,000-feet by a whisker, as was earlier reported by TOI.
Around three-fourths of the casualties are caused by the severe terrain and climatic conditions, with temperatures sometimes even dipping to minus 60 degree Celsius, rather than enemy fire. In February 2016, for instance, 10 ill-fated soldiers from the 19 Madras Regiment - including Lance Naik Hanumanthappa Koppad who miraculously survived for over eight days - had perished after being buried under a massive ice-wall avalanche in the northern Siachen Glacier.
Army officers say soldiers deployed in high-altitude regions are given prior training in mountain craft, ice craft, and survival in glaciated terrain to cope with any eventuality like avalanches, but sometimes it becomes impossible to fight nature.
The soldiers are also instructed to strictly adhere to the laid-down drills and guidelines when traversing avalanche-prone slopes and negotiating crevasses on the glacial heights. Apart from avalanches, "white-outs" and blizzards in high-altitude regions, soldiers also have to contend with high-altitude pulmonary odema, cerebral odema, hypothermia, hypoxia and frostbite.