Mortal remains of avalanche victims brought to Siachen base camp

Ravi Krishnan Khajuria

Tribune News Service

Jammu, February 13

On the 11th day since a big avalanche wiped out an Army post on the Siachen Glacier at a height of 19,600 on February 3, mortal remains of nine soldiers were brought down to the Siachen base camp this morning and then taken to the Military Hospital at Hunder where their embalming was done.

“Mortal remains of all the nine soldiers were brought down to the Siachen base camp this morning and taken to the Military Hospital at Hunder, near Parthapur, where embalming and other procedures were performed,” said a senior Army officer.

Army Aviation copters, in a daring act, brought down all the nine bodies to the base camp, despite bad weather, he added.

Helicopters are now kept on a standby to further transport the mortal remains to Leh tomorrow where 14 Corps (Fire and Fury Corps) and Lt Gen SK Patyal shall be laying wreaths on them at a brief ceremony before they are further transported in an IAF plane to New Delhi, he added.

Though the weather between the Siachen base camp and Leh is not fit for air operations so far, but the weatherman has forecast a clear weather tomorrow.

“At New Delhi, Army Chief General Dalbir Singh Suhag and political establishments shall be laying wreaths at another ceremony before the mortal remains are flown to cities close to their respective villages,” he said.

A soldier, Lance Naik Hanamanthappa Koppad, buried under 25 feet of snow was found alive in a critical condition six days after avalanche hit the Sonam post on February 3. Nine other soldiers, however, were found dead under snow.

The rescued soldier, Lance Naik Hanamanthapa, also succumbed to hypothermia among other ailments at Research and Referral Hospital at New Delhi on Thursday morning.

The nine deceased soldiers have been identified as Subedar Nagesha TT of Tejur village in Hassan district of Karnataka, Havildar Elumalai M of Dukkam Parai village of Vellore district of Tamil Nadu, Lance Havildar S Kumar of Kumanan Thozhu village in Teni district of Tamil Nadu, Lance Naik Sudheesh B of Monroethuruth village in Kollam district of Kerala, Sepoy Mahesha PN of HD Kote village in Mysore district of Karnataka, Sepoy Ganesan G of Chokkathevan Patti village in Madurai district of Tamil Nadu, Sepoy Rama Moorthy N of Gudisatana Palli village in Krishna Giri district of Tamil Nadu, Sepoy Mustaq Ahmed S of Parnapalle village of Kurnool district of Andhra Pradesh and Sepoy (Nursing Assistant) Suryawanshi SV of Maskarwadi village in Satara district of Maharashtra.

Among the 10 soldiers died, four were from Tamil Nadu, three from Karnataka (including Lance Naik Hanamanthappa) and one each from Kerala, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh.