Kinnaur avalance: The personnel were part of an Army patrol deployed in Shipki La Sector
More than 250 soldiers of the Army and paramilitary forces are searching for five jawans buried in snow after an avalanche in Himachal Pradesh's Kinnaur, in which one army man was killed on Wednesday.
The soldiers were hit by a sliding glacier at the Namgya region of Kinnaur, around 11 am on Wednesday morning.
Heavy snow and rain are hampering the rescue operation, district officials said today, according to news agency PTI. The region saw 5 inches of snowfall on Wednesday night, Kinnaur district public relations officer Mamta Negi said, adding it has been raining at the rescue site since morning.
The personnel were part of an Army patrol deployed in the Shipki La Sector sector along the Indo-China border. Sixteen soldiers were patrolling the border area in two separate teams.
Several soldiers were trapped in the snow. While many were rescued, one jawan died on the way to hospital.
Six are still trapped in the snow. The search for them resumed early this morning, with temperatures at a freezing 15 degrees below zero.
Four inches of fresh snow have accumulated on the slopes, said the Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), which is involved in the rescue. The Border Roads Organisation is using machines to try and track down the trapped soldiers.
A spokesperson of the Army said the search operation would go on till the last man was retrieved.
The avalanche struck at the Dogri Nala, an area that has not been hit by an avalanche before.
With inputs from PTI