Tribune News Service,Jammu, January 30

The Army today rescued two of the three boys stuck in an avalanche in the higher reaches of T Santwari, 11 km from Macchil tehsil in Kupwara district. Of the three boys, one succumbed to his injuries.Mehraj Khan, 16, a resident of Katwar village, Javed Khan, 16, a resident of Thalli village, and Qaiser Ahmed, 14, a resident of T Suntbala village, were crossing an avalanche-prone area when they were caught in an avalanche.The Army deployed at T Sant sprung into action to rescue the boys caught in the avalanche this afternoon, an Army spokesman said.Undeterred by the blizzard, 15-20 feet of snow and avalanche warnings, the Army’s avalanche rescue team was sent to rescue the boys. The team was equipped with an avalanche victim detector with the help of which contact was quickly established with the boys, the Army spokesman said.The team found the boys buried under 10 feet of snow, in a state of shock and physical exhaustion and administered them first aid at the site itself, he further said.The rescue mission was able to successfully evacuate Javed and Qaisar. However, third boy Mehraj succumbed to his injuries, the spokesman added.

Snow, showers bring cheer to farmers

Tourists’ delight: Tourists have a gala time at Kufri near Shimla on Saturday. Photo: Amit Kanwar

Tribune News service

Shimla, January 30

Tribal areas and higher reaches of the state witnessed fresh snowfall while mid and lower hills received widespread rain, bringing cheer to farmers.Shimla and its surrounding areas were lashed by hailstorm last night while Kalpa and Keylong received 12 cm of fresh snow while Rohtang, Kunzam and Saach passes and Churdhar ranges in Sirmaur and Dhauladhar ranges in Kangra district had another spell of heavy snowfall.The rain and snow broke the five-week dry spell and rain deficit in January was reduced to 79 per cent from 91 per cent.The rain is a boon for Rabi crop and the continuous dry spell was causing anxiety to farmers.Bhuntar and Bajaura in Mandi district received 35 mm and 33mm of rain while Kotkhai and Sarahan received 26 mm and 25 mm rain, followed by Seobagh 23 mm, Gohar 21 mm and Kufri and Jogindernagar 19 mm.Shimla, Banjar and Sunnibajji had 17 mm rain, followed by Kumarsain 16 mm, Sujanpur Tira, Manali and Rohru 15 mm and Jhandutta, Nadaun and Mandi 14 mm. The MeT office has predicted rain or snow at isolated places in higher hills tomorrow and dry weather in rest of the state till February 5.The maximum temperatures rose marginally and Una was the hottest with 23.3 degree C, followed by Solan 22 degree, Sundernagar 21.6 degree, Nahan 20.8 degree, Bhuntar 17.2 degree, Dharamsala 13.8 degree, Shimla 13.6 degree, Manali 9.2 degree and Kalpa 8.6 degree C. Keylong recorded the minimum temperature at minus 5.6 degree while Kalpa and Manali recorded a low of minus 0.8 degree and 0.2 degree, followed by Shimla 4 degree, Bhuntar 6.2 degree, Solan and Palampur 7 degree, Dharamsala 7.2 degree, Sundernagar 8.0 degree, Una and Nahan 10.2 degree C.