Kashmir avalanches death toll climbs to 20
srinagar — Rescuers retrieved the bodies on Friday of another four Indian soldiers buried beneath tonnes of snow in Kashmir, taking the death toll from a series of avalanches to 20, the military said.
All eleven members of the patrol, that was approaching a border post along the Line of Control (LoC), were killed.
“Four more bodies were recovered today (Friday). No one else is missing,” army spokesman Colonel Rajesh Kalia said.
Another separate torrent of snow in the same remote Gurez area buried three other troops at an army post.
Meanwhile, record snowfall at various places in the Kashmir Valley continued to cut it off from the outside world for the fourth consecutive day even as the Met office forecast improvement on Friday. The snowfall in Pahalgam, Gulmarg and here has broken its previous records of 2006 and 1992, an official of the Met office said.
“We are now expecting improvement in the weather from Friday onwards,” the official added as both surface and air links to the valley remained suspended.
No vehicular movement would be allowed on the Srinagar-Jammu highway until a review on Friday afternoon, a traffic department official said.
“There was just 200-metre visibility at the Srinagar International Airport in the morning. A decision on resumption of flight operations will be taken as the visibility improves during the day,” an airport official here said. —