Soldiers carry the coffins of Lance Naik Marigendra Nath Pramanik and Sepoy Shiv Singh at a ceremonial farewell held at Badamibagh Cantonment in Srinagar on Wednesday.

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, December 20

The Army on Wednesday said it had retrieved the bodies of all three soldiers who had gone missing last week from a forward post during heavy snowfall in north Kashmir’s remote Gurez sector.The bodies of Lance Naik Marigendra Nath Pramanik, Sepoy Shiv Singh and Sepoy Moorthy N were found after more than a weeklong search operation in the rugged and inhospitable terrain bordering the Line of Control.Defence spokesman Colonel Rajesh Kalia said the bodies of Lance Naik Pramanik and Sepoy Shiv Singh were located on Monday and the third missing soldier was found dead today.The Army also held a ceremonial farewell for the two soldiers, whose bodies were transported from the Gurez sector to 15 Corps Headquarters at Badamibagh cantonment in the city here and later flown for the last rites to their native places.Lance Naik Pramanik, 32, hailed from Kumar Chak village of West Bengal’s Purva Midnapur district and Sepoy Shiv Singh hailed from Gullarwala Karsouli village of Himachal Pradesh’s Solan district.“In this hour of grief, the Army stands in solidarity with the bereaved families of the martyrs and remains committed to their dignity and well-being,” the Army said in a statement.The Gurez sector, located in Bandipora district, is one of the remote parts of the valley and remains inaccessible during winter after snow shuts the only road which links it with the district headquarters. The sector is heavily militarised and soldiers are stationed on mountaintop posts to guard the Line of Control and prevent infiltration of militants.The three soldiers were reported missing from the Gurez sector on December 11 when the mountainous northern region of the Kashmir valley received heavy snowfall. Two other soldiers, one of whom was found dead earlier this week, had gone missing during the same snow spell from the nearby Nowgam sector.The Army had launched concerted efforts and pressed the specially equipped Avalanche Rescue Teams into service to search for the missing soldiers in the two sectors along the Line of Control.