An Indian soldier, buried alive for six days in deep snow following an avalanche in India's northern Himalayan Kashmir region, has been rescued.
The bodies of nine other soldiers, who were part of Hanamanthappa Koppad’s squad, were recovered on Monday from the disputed Siachen Glacier, the world’s highest battlefield at 6,000m, where Indian and Pakistani troops have faced off against each other since 1984.
Koppad, who was buried under at least seven metres of snow last Wednesday in temperatures of minus 45 degrees Celsius, has been airlifted to the army hospital in New Delhi, where he is reported to be critical but stable.
Senior army officers said the corporal managed to survive in an air pocket, which shielded him somewhat from the elements.
Enduring freezing temperatures for days, army rescue teams armed with special snow cutters and chainsaws cut through the wall of ice to reach the buried soldiers.
They had to be flown in via helicopter, the only means of transport in the area, in treacherous conditions that are a perennial feature on the 78km-long Siachen Glacier.
“The rescue effort went on day and night under extremely hostile weather conditions, except for two days when blizzards hit the area” said Lieutenant General D S Hooda.
In the end the effort paid off when a survivor was pulled out, he added.
Koppad’s father expressed his joy at his son’s miraculous rescue. “God has been kind to us,” he told television news channels.
800 deaths
Since 1984 more than 800 Indian soldiers have died on Siachen mostly from avalanches, landslides, frostbite and altitude sickness.
Last month four Indian soldiers died while on patrol in the same region as Koppad’s unit and in 2012, an avalanche on the Pakistani side of the glacier killed 140 people, including 129 army personnel.
Winter temperatures in the area drop to minus 70 degrees, with blizzards gusting at speeds averaging 160km/hr.
Summer temperatures hover around minus 20 degrees. Walking even a few steps is difficult as oxygen is scarce.
Consequently, Siachen tours of duty for Indian army units are limited to six months.
The Indian army occupied the inhospitable Siachen Glacier in 1984, fearing Pakistan was ready to claim it as part of the enduring Kashmir dispute dating back to independence 69 years ago.
In response Pakistan moved troops to the region, spawning a standoff between the two armies that exchanged artillery fire almost daily, until a ceasefire came into effect in 2003.
The confrontation over Siachen is also a financial burden for both sides, but more so for India, which spends about €800,000 daily to keep its military formations supplied as everything is flown in by helicopter.
The Pakistan army is located at lower altitudes and serviced by roads.
Talks between the nuclear-armed neighbours to try to resolve the Siachen dispute and convert the entire region into a biodiversity park have, over the years, floundered on mutual suspicion.
