2 from HP among 7 Army personnel killed in avalanche in Arunachal

Dharamsala, February 9

Two soldiers from Himachal Pradesh were among the seven Army personnel found dead in the high-altitude Kameng region of Arunachal Pradesh after being struck by an avalanche, officials said on Wednesday.

The bodies were found on Tuesday, two days since they went missing after their patrol in the border area was hit by the avalanche on Sunday. A search and rescue operation was launched following the incident.

President Ram Nath Kovind, Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi had on Tuesday condoled the loss of lives of the Army personnel.

According to Eastern Command of the Army, the seven soldiers include—Jugal Kishore, Arun Kattal, Akshay Pathania, Vishal Sharma, Rakesh Singh, Ankesh Bhardwaj, and Gurbaj Singh.

Of them, Ankesh Bhardwaj (21) and Rakesh Singh (26) are from Himachal Pradesh. The former was a resident of Sau Panchayat of Ghumarwin sub-division in Bilaspur district and the latter was from Maheshgarh village of Baijnath sub-division in Kangra district, Deputy Commissioner of Kangra, Nipun Jindal said on Wednesday.

Rakesh Singh’s father too served in the Army. He is said to have been inspired by his father to serve the country and therefore joined the Army, according to sources close to the family.

Rakesh Singh was married to Anjali Devi and the couple has a six-month-old child.