The rescue operation for five Army personnel trapped in snow avalanche at Namgya in Kinnaur district in Himachal Pradesh has been resumed.
Over 200 persons of Army, ITBP, local police and District Disaster Management are deployed in the operation.
On Thursday, heavy snow, rain and sliding of glaciers had hampered the operation.
An army soldier was killed and five others went missing in an avalanche on the Sino-India border on Wednesday. However, the five trapped jawans are feared dead in the avalanche that occurred around 11 am.
Speaking to PTI, Superintendent of Police (SP) Sakshi Verma said, “As per GREF authorities, Tinku Nalla block on the National Highway 5 will open by Friday evening.”Five more jawans of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) were also injured in the avalanche.However, they had been rescued, the officials told PTI.
The body of one of the army jawans was recovered, but there was no trace of five others, Kinnaur Deputy Commissioner Gopal Chand told PTI.The deceased jawan was identified as Rakesh Kumar (41) of Ghumarpur village in Bilaspur district of Himachal Pradesh, Kinnaur Superintendent of Police (SP) Sakshi Verma told PTI, adding that the jawans belonged to the 7 JAK Rifles unit of the army.
Kumar’s body has been taken to the Pooh civil hospital for autopsy.
Chand said the avalanche occurred at around 11 am near the Shipki La border post.
According to Army sources, 16 jawans had gone towards the Shipki La border post from Namagya in order to repair a damaged water supply line when the avalanche struck, burying six of them alive. One of them was rescued, but he succumbed to his injuries subsequently.
An army spokesperson said the search-and-rescue operation would go on till the last man was retrieved. (With inputs from Agencies)
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