10 soldiers killed in avalanches
Seven jawans, including a JCO, rescued
Avalanches have buried 10 more Army jawans in Jammu and Kashmir. As many as six jawans have gone missing after being swept by avalanches in 2,580-metre-high Gurez area close to the Line of Control (LoC) in Bandipore district since Wednesday evening, official here said.
However, seven soldiers including a junior commissioned officer were saved during a rescue operation launched soon after the incidents.
Officials in Srinagar added that the bodies of all 10 soldiers have been found after two avalanches hit Gurez since Wednesday. However, a defence spokesman here said that only seven bodies had been retrieved till 12 pm on Thursday.
A statement issued by the police said that all 10 soldiers who died after their camp was hit by an avalanche belonged to the Army’s 51 Rashtriya Rifles. The camp is located at Manzgund in Neeru valley of Gurez.
Earlier, an Army officer Major Amit Sagar was killed and five civilians including four members of a family died in similar incidents in the Valley on Wednesday.
Three more people including an 11-year-old girl have been killed in house collapses and other weather-related incidents during the past two days, officials said.
As many as six soldiers who were trapped following an avalanche struck a 115 territorial Army camp in Sonamarg area, about 100 km north of Srinagar, on Wednesday are being treated in a military hospital and that their conditional is stable. Major Sagar had died on the spot in this incident.
Long-serving Russian ambassador to India Alexander Kadakin passed away on Thursday following a heart attack after a brief illness. He was 67. Fluent in Hindi, Mr Kadakin was the most experienced India-hand and had been Ambassador in New Delhi since November, 2009.
New Delhi said it had lost a “dear friend” who nurtured the Indo-Russian relationship for many decades. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was deeply saddened at Kadakin’s death.
Never afraid to speak his mind, Kadakin had recently waded into controversy after complaining about the “inadequate” cash withdrawal limits for embassies by the government after demonetisation. But Kadakin also earned the gratitude of India after he supported the Army’s surgical strikes on terror launch pads in PoK.
“With deep regret and profound sorrow the Embassy of the Russian Federation in the Republic of India informs that Alexander Kadakin, ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to the Republic of India, passed away on January 26,” the Russian Embassy said.