A man evacuates children in a boat from the flooded Rajbagh area of Srinagar on Friday. Tribune Photo: Amin War
Azhar Qadri
Tribune News Service
Srinagar, April 7
Three soldiers buried under an avalanche in the remote Batalik sector near the Line of Control were found dead on Friday as the flood threat in the Valley receded with a pause in the downpour.An Army spokesman said the three soldiers, who were buried under an avalanche which hit their post in the Batalik sector yesterday, were found dead this morning as rescuers struggled against inclement weather and dug through 15 feet of snow to locate them.“Special teams braved inhospitable weather and worked through 15 feet of snow overnight. The bodies of three missing soldiers have been recovered,” the spokesman said.The three soldiers were among the five Army personnel manning a post in the Batalik sector, which was hit by an avalanche. While two soldiers were rescued immediately, three were missing as the Army launched rescue operating to locate them and pressed specially trained and equipped avalanche rescue teams into service.An unprecedented mid-spring snowfall and heavy rain had triggered a flood threat in the Kashmir valley and multiple avalanches in the Batalik and Kaksar sectors of Kargil district.The Jhelum river, which snakes through the Kashmir valley, and its tributaries had swollen as heavy precipitation continued for three days before registering a significant decrease today.The river’s water level crossed the ‘flood declaration’ level of 21 feet at Sangam in south Kashmir on Thursday evening, sparking panic in the region. The water level touched a high of 22.10 feet at Sangam at 4 am on Friday, a little short of the danger level of 23 feet before the waters began to recede.Residents across the Kashmir valley monitored the river’s level on an hourly basis, tuning to updates from the irrigation and flood control department.In south Kashmir’s Anantnag district, rescuers today found the body of a passenger who was travelling in a taxi which had skidded into a gushing stream yesterday in the Kokernag area. The deceased was identified as 35-year-old Mohammad Ashraf Chauhan while the taxi driver Riyaz Awan is still missing and search is on to locate him.As the downpour continued for three days, it also triggered landslides along the mountainous stretches of the Srinagar-Jammu highway and forced its closure.On Friday afternoon, the authorities were able to allow stranded vehicles to move towards the Kashmir valley as debris was cleared along several stretches.The state meteorological department in its forecast bulletin said the weather was likely to remain dry from Saturday with the possibility of light to moderate rainfall at few places in the region.(With inputs by Suhail A Shah from Anantnag and RK Kichlu from Ramban)
Guv condoles deathJammu: Governor NN Vohra on Friday expressed grief over the tragic death of three soldiers when an avalanche struck an Army post in the Batalik sector of Ladakh region. The Governor spoke to Lt Gen PJS Pannu, GOC, 14 Corps, and conveyed his sympathies to the bereaved families and wished the early recovery of the soldiers buried under snow who had been rescued.
Bodies of 3 soldiers trapped in avalanches recovered
SRINAGAR: Three soldiers trapped in an avalanche in Jammu and Kashmir’s Batalik were found dead on Friday. Multiple avalanches tore through Batalik sector on Thursday as the Valley reeled under unprecedented rain and snow.
The administration declared floods in Srinagar where the Jhelum’s water level rose alarmingly and shut education institutions for three days, officials said. Kashmir experienced rare snowfall in April with vast areas blanketed in white due to the freak weather phenomenon.
An army spokesperson said the heavy snowfall triggered multiple avalanches, burying one post in the Batalik sector. Two out of five trapped soldiers missing were rescued on Thursday.
Specially trained and equipped avalanche rescue teams were deployed for the operations in the area. Incessant rains also led to the closure of the Jammu-Srinagar national highway.
SOLDIERS PUSH AMBULANCE TO SAVE PREGNANT WOMAN
NEW DELHI: Abdul Aahad Khan was uncertain if his wife would live that night. He was uncertain about the fate of his unborn child.
As Kashmir battled rain, avalanche and heavy snowfall, a couple was on its way from Bandipore to a hospital in Srinagar. But, at 1.30am, the ambulance they were travelling in broke down. However, the driver of the ambulance showed presence of mind and decided to let the sirens blare.
Soon, troops from a Rashtriya Rifles battalion rushed to the spot and found the woman in a critical state. They began pushing the ambulance to get it started.
The soldiers pushed the vehicle for more than 500 metres and asked the driver to take an alternative route to Srinagar.
Some 12 hours later, Khan called up the company commander of SK Bala Army camp to inform him that his wife had been saved and had delivered a healthy baby boy.