Four soldiers among 10 killed in J&K avalanche
GANDERBAL Avalanche hit an army party in Machhil, another struck a village in Gagangir
SRINAGAR: Four army soldiers, a BSF constable and five civilians were killed in avalanches in Kupwara and Ganderbal districts in Jammu and Kashmir.
An army party was hit by an avalanche in the Machhil sector close to the Line of Control (LOC) on Monday night in which five army jawans were trapped under the snow. Rescue parties immediately reached the spot and an operation was started.
“We took out all the five jawans buried under the snow while four of them succumbed,” Shriram Ambarker, SP, Kupwara, told IANS.
A Border Security Force (BSF) constable was killed after an avalanche hit the force’s deployment on the Line of Control (LOC) in Naugam sector on Monday evening, the paramilitary force said on Tuesday.
The incident took place around 8.30 p.m. after which a search and rescue operation was launched, the BSF said.
Six out of seven BSF personnel deployed in the area were safely rescued but one constable was trapped and he could not be revived despite efforts, said the BSF.
Another avalanche struck a village in Gagangir area of Ganderbal district in which five civilians were killed while four others were rescued, police said.
The avalanche struck on Monday night when the five civilians were passing by the area, they said.
The bodies of the five have been recovered.
Meanwhile, normal life was thrown out of gear in Kashmir on Tuesday as overnight sub-zero temperatures led to the formation of a thick layer of ice on roads, resulting in cancellation of several flights to Srinagar.
The minimum temperature in Srinagar settled at minus 2.7 degrees Celsius.
The Valley has witnessed heavy snowfall and sleet over the past two days.
An official of the Airports Authority of India said early morning flights had to be cancelled due to slippery conditions on the runway. “Flight operations resumed in the afternoon,” he said. The Pahalgam resort in south Kashmir was the coldest recorded place in the Valley at minus 9.5 degrees Celsius, followed by the Gulmarg skiing resort in north Kashmir at minus 7.6 degrees Celsius.
The J a mmu- S r i n a g a r National Highway, too, remained closed for the second consecutive day on Tuesday due to landslides and snowfall, leaving over 3000 vehicles stranded.
The traffic on the highway was closed due to shooting of stones from hillocks overlooking the arterial road at several places in Ramban district, traffic police officials said.
Heavy rains triggered the shooting of stones in Moumpassi, Digdole and Panthiyal areas on Monday afternoon, forcing suspension of the traffic, the official said. Snowfall is also continuing on Kashmir side of the highway including Jawahar Tunnel, the gateway to the Valley, since Sunday.
No fresh traffic was allowed from Nagrota in Jammu for Kashmir, they said.
As result of blockade of the highway, over 3000 vehicles are stranded at various places en route from Lakhanpur in Kathua district to Banihal belt of Ramban district and also on Kashmir side
Kashmir is currently under the grip of ‘Chillai-kalan’ - the 40-day harshest period of the winter when the chances of snowfall are the highest and the maximum and the minimum temperatures drop considerably.
‘Chillai-kalan’ began on December 21 and ends on January 31, but the cold wave continues even after that in Kashmir. The 40-day period is followed by a 20-day-long ‘Chillai-khurd’ (small cold) and a 10-day ‘ChillaiBachha’ (baby cold).