Capt Ashwani of Patiala dies in avalanche at Siachen

Gagan K. Teja

Tribune News Service

Patiala/Jammu, November 14  

Capt Ashwani Kumar from Patiala lost his life, while 15 other soldiers were rescued after an avalanche struck a patrol party at Siachen glacier in Ladakh sector of Jammu and Kashmir on Friday. Capt Kumar was cremated in his hometown on Saturday.

“A patrol party of Army came under an avalanche in the southern area of Siachen glacier yesterday,” Udhampur-based defence spokesman Colonel S.D. Goswami said on Saturday.

A rescue operation was launched immediately and 15 soldiers were saved, he said.

Regimental Medical Officer Captain Ashwini Kumar could not be saved and his body was retrieved from under the avalanche, he said.

Capt Kumar, 26, of 3 Ladakh Scouts, was a bachelor and hailed from Patiala in Punjab.

His body was brought at his residence in Shanti Nagar today afternoon. Capt Kumar’s parents and his younger brother were inconsolable.

His cremation was attended by people from all walks of life.  Army officials gave a rifle salute by firing several rounds in the air in honour of the soldier.

Born on August 27, 1989, Capt Kumar did his MBBS from the Government Medical College, Patiala, and was commissioned into the Army on January 6, 2015. Though Capt Ashwani Kumar had made it to the Indo-Tibetan Borden Police and Railways Department as well, he preferred to choose the Army. (With PTI inputs)