In this photograph released by the Indian Army on January 27, 2017, soldiers are pictured during a rescue operation to find soldiers trapped at the site of a snow avalanche in Gurez sector, some 130 km north of Srinagar. AFP file photo

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, January 30

Three days after being pulled out alive from snow following a cave-in along the Line of Control (LoC) in the Machil sector, five Army men today succumbed to their injuries at an Army hospital in Srinagar, taking the solders’ toll in last week’s snowstorm to 20.The five were airlifted from the Machil sector in north Kashmir’s frontier Kupwara district early Saturday morning, but succumbed soon after they were evacuated in Mi-17 helicopters to Army’s 92 Base Hospital in Srinagar today.(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)The five, belonging to 56 Battalion of Rashtriya Rifles, were shifted to a local unit for medical treatment after being rescued on Saturday. They were unconscious at the time of rescue and needed immediate specialist treatment, but could not be evacuated to Srinagar for over 36 hours. The soldiers may have died due to hypothermia, said sources. “Postmortem will determine the cause of death,” a source said.Over the past one week, Kashmir’s weather has claimed 26 lives. Of these, 20 are from the Army — 15 men, including an officer, were killed in avalanches in Gurez sector in north Kashmir and Sonamarg in central Kashmir.

Machil tragedy victims

• From Maharashtra :Sepoy Dhavale Ganesh Kisan;Sepoy Ambore Balaji Bhagwanrao; Naik Mane Ramchandra Shamrao
• From Tamil Nadu :Grenadier Thamothara Kannan M
• From Gujarat :Signalman Parmar Deva