An Indian soldier who was buried after an avalanche struck the Siachen glacier in Indian-administered Kashmir six days ago has been found alive, military officials have said.
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“It was a miraculous rescue, all efforts are being made to evacuate Lance Naik Hanamanthappa to hospital in the morning”, army commander Lieutenant General DS Hooda was quoted by the Press Trust of India.
The army says he is critically ill ahead of his evacuation on Tuesday.
Five bodies have been recovered so far, and four have been identified.
Massive rescue operations had been going on by the army and the Air Force since then to trace the missing soldiers. Lance Naik Hanamanthappa hails from Karnataka and is in critical condition.
The Army had earlier virtually given up hope of rescuing alive any of the 10 soldiers whose post in the Northern Siachen Glacier was buried deep under tonnes of crystalised snow when the ice-wall, measuring nearly a km wide and 800-m-tall, had collapsed on the post and the adjoining helipad early on Wednesday.
“All other soldiers are regrettably no longer with us”, he added.
“You can yourself understand that the terrain is such that we lost thousands of soldiers to retain control over it” though the loss of human lives on Siachen had come down in recent years due to improved facilities, Defence Minister said.
The ten soldiers were buried under a wall of ice that collapsed on them at the icy glacier which is the world’s highest and coldest battlefield.
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Avalanches and landslides are common in the area during winter and temperatures can drop as low as minus 60 degrees Celsius (minus 76 degrees Fahrenheit).
