SRINAGAR: An Indian soldier rescued nearly a week after he was buried by a deadly avalanche on the world’s highest battleground was Tuesday airlifted to Delhi in critical but stable condition, the army said.
Hanumanthappa Koppad spent six days buried after a massive block of ice fell onto his army post on the Siachen glacier, killing nine of his colleagues.
The rescue late Monday came days after India said there was little hope of survivors from the disaster in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir.
General D. S. Hooda, who heads the Indian Army’s northern command, called it a “miracle” as he described the huge challenges faced by the rescue team, operating at an altitude of 5,900 metres (19,600 feet).
“It was not a typical soft snow avalanche. It was like a wall of rock-hard ice,” he told AFP, describing how army rescuers used sniffer dogs and specialist radar to detect the buried soldiers.
“The effort went on day and night, except during two nights when blizzards hit the area.
“In the end, the whole effort paid off as a miracle when a survivor was pulled out. He is now being treated at a military hospital in Delhi.”
The bodies of the other nine soldiers had now been retrieved, he said, declaring the rescue mission over.
Reports said the soldier, from the southern state of Karnataka, was found buried under nearly 25 feet (eight metres) of snow in temperatures of minus 45 degrees Celsius (minus 49 Fahrenheit). He had survived thanks to an air pocket.
