M A I N   N E W S

17 feared dead on Sonamarg-Dras road

Chandigarh, November 8
At least 17 persons are feared to have died in blizzards and avalanches on the snow-bound Sonamarg-Dras road passing through the 14,000-feet high Zozilla pass in Jammu and Kashmir since November 3 when the Srinagar-Leh national highway was officially closed to traffic.

ITBP personnel who have been engaged in the rescue work today told UNI that while nine persons were travelling on foot when they went missing on November 3, at least eight others were in the four trucks, which rolled down into Ghumri Nullah the same day due to an avalanche. All were feared dead now, according to ITBP 8th battalion’s Ishwar Singh Duhan. The officer said the retrieval of other bodies would start tomorrow.

Altogether 816 persons, who were stranded between Sonamarg and Dras, had been evacuated in the joint rescue operation codenamed “Operation Snowstorm” launched by the Army, the Air Force, the ITBP and the Border Roads Organisation (BRO).

In a statement, the Army said a convoy of 340 vehicles, including 300 civil and 40 military vehicles, were stranded since October 31 due to heavy snow on the Dras-Sonamarg road. UNI