Indore:
The family of the Army Captain Pratik Puntmbekar, who died in the avalanche in Gulmarg heights, is still waiting for his body to be brought home.
(Read: J&K: Avalanche strikes Armymen again)Vigyan Nagar in Indore is in mourning. The brave family is proud that their son died for a cause.
"He always wanted to be in the armed forces. His wish came true at last. As it is he was not getting any job despite being a matriculate, said Chandrakant Puntmbekar, Pratik's uncle.
Pratik and 17 other Armymen died in Gulmarg when an avalanche buried their training camp.
Pratik had gone with 300 other Armymen on training to Gulmarg.
Meanwhile, bodies of the 17 army personnel were flown to their hometowns by two special flights on Wednesday.
The bodies of the personnel were brought to Srinagar on Tuesday evening, Defence Spokesman Colonel J S Bar said.
He said four of the personnel belonged to Jammu and four to Punjab. Nine bodies were flown to Delhi from where they would now be taken to Rajasthan, Manipur, Nepal, Indore and Ranchi.
A massive avalanche had slammed the popular ski resort of Gulmarg on Monday, killing 17 soldiers and injuring an equal number when the tragedy struck troops during winter warfare training on steep slopes at Khilanmarg, 70 kms from here.
The avalanche came hurtling down on the 60-strong combat team as they were scaling the icy walls of high-altitude Khilanmarg peak in near zero visibility.
The condition of 17 injured soldiers was stable, Brar said.
The high altitude areas of the valley have been lashed by heavy snowfall since February 5, while the plains including Srinagar have been lashed by incessant rains and snow.