Another missing; downpour in Kashmir division again

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, March 25

A soldier was killed and another reported missing after an Army patrol was hit by an avalanche in the remote Turtuk area of Ladakh as downpour began in the Kashmir division.Two soldiers were buried under snow at 8 am today when an Army patrol in the Turtuk area of Ladakh was hit by an avalanche.An Army official said an operation was immediately launched and one soldier was rescued while the other was still missing.The rescued soldier, who was in a critical condition, later succumbed to his injuries, the official said. The deceased soldier was identified as Lance Havildar Bhawan Tamang, a resident of West Bengal.The official said efforts were being made to rescue the missing soldier. It was the second time this month that the Army suffered casualties in avalanche-related incidents.Last week, two soldiers on surveillance duty at a post in the Kargil sector were hit by an avalanche. One soldier was rescued immediately, but another was found dead three days later.The Kashmir division, which includes Ladakh’s two districts, received moderate to heavy rain and isolated snowfall in recent weeks as the region had a brush with back-to-back wet spells after a winter without snow.Rain began at most places in the Kashmir valley on Friday when the latest spell of heavy rain hit the region. The wet spell was likely to continue over the next couple of days.The downpour caused day temperature to dip by several degrees below the average temperature for this time of the year.According to the Meteorological Department, the downpour was likely to decrease in intensity over the next two days.The Kashmir valley was expected to receive scattered rain on Saturday and isolated rain on Sunday, following which the weather was likely to remain dry.A previous spell of downpour last week had forced the highway connecting the Kashmir valley with the Jammu division to be closed for four consecutive days.