7 army men buried alive in avalanche

Daredevil

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7 army men buried alive in avalanche

Mukhtar Ahmad in Srinagar | April 14, 2009 | 14:47 IST

Seven army personnel were buried alive when an avalanche hit a counter-insurgency post in the Shamabhari mountain range at north Kashmir's Kupwara district on Tuesday.

A defence spokesman said that 15 troopers were manning the post when the avalanche hit it.

"A massive rescue operation was undertaken immediately and eight troopers were safely rescued. Bodies of the seven troopers, who died in the tragedy, were recovered by the rescue teams," defence spokesman Lieutenant Colonel J S Brar told rediff.com.

The avalanche might have been triggered by the recent snowfall in the upper reaches of the valley.

Official sources said the avalanche flattened the post manned by personnel of Rashtriya Rifles of the army located nearly five km ahead of Sadna top on Kupwara-Karnah road.

Last month, the army had intercepted a group of infiltrators and a receiving party of Lashkar-e-Tayiba militants in the Shamsbhari range. The ensuing gunfight had resulted in the deaths of eight army troopers and 17 militants.


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http://www.rediff.com//news/2009/apr/14seven-army-men-buried-alive-in-avalanche.htm
 

Flint

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Very sad. They ought to do more to detect and prevent such things. A lot of avalanche prone regions blast explosives to trigger avalanches beforehand. I'm not sure if the IA does that...
 

Daredevil

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Flint, there is no technology as of now which can detect impending avalanches before hand just like earthquake. May be you should do something with your robotics and stuff like that.
 

Flint

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Flint, there is no technology as of now which can detect impending avalanches before hand just like earthquake. May be you should do something with your robotics and stuff like that.
DD you can't predict it precisely but you can sure make a good guess. Avalanches usually occur after certain weather conditions coupled with heavy snowfall. Most cold countries do periodic blasting to trigger avalanches in advance while nobody is traveling along the roads. I was asking whether or not IA did the same.
 

Vinod2070

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RIP. Really sad news. Condolences to the family.
 

Flint

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IA takes very heavy losses during peacetime due to avalanches, landslides, road accidents, and adverse weather conditions in places like Siachen. They really need to improve in this regard.
 

Pintu

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My heart goes for the family of the brave men of the Indian Army, my hearty condolences go with them, I salute the brave soldiers and pray that may their soul be rest in peace.
 

Daredevil

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DD you can't predict it precisely but you can sure make a good guess. Avalanches usually occur after certain weather conditions coupled with heavy snowfall. Most cold countries do periodic blasting to trigger avalanches in advance while nobody is traveling along the roads. I was asking whether or not IA did the same.
I'm not really sure if army does anything like this. At least from the Siachen glacier battlefield videos on the other thread , it seems they don't do it.
 

Flint

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I'm not really sure if army does anything like this. At least from the Siachen glacier battlefield videos on the other thread , it seems they don't do it.
DD siachen is a glacier - no avalanches there to my knowledge. Most casualties there occur mainly due to the extreme cold.
 

Daredevil

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DD siachen is a glacier - no avalanches there to my knowledge. Most casualties there occur mainly due to the extreme cold.
No Flint, the guy who has trekked all over the Siachen glacier talked about avalanches and complete white-out and he clearly said that there is no technology yet to detect impending avalanches. Just check those videos.
 

Flint

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No Flint, the guy who has trekked all over the Siachen glacier talked about avalanches and complete white-out and he clearly said that there is no technology yet to detect impending avalanches. Just check those videos.
Thanks I'll check them.
 

A.V.

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may god give strength to their families and peace to the brave soldiers.
 

johnee

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DD siachen is a glacier - no avalanches there to my knowledge. Most casualties there occur mainly due to the extreme cold.
flint,
I think avalanches are common in siachen. when I was watching 'line of fire' on times now, the soldiers were talking about it. they also mentioned some device to tell the position of the soldier when he is under avalanche so he can be saved in time.
 

ZOOM

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Flint, there is no technology as of now which can detect impending avalanches before hand just like earthquake. May be you should do something with your robotics and stuff like that.
DRDO did developed the technology successfully to have a protection against avalanche which can predict before hand about any of such natural eventuality. I fear large scale deployment of similar gadget is still way away from schedule. But usually soldiers espcially in siachin do carry such gadget in case they get trapped inside such avalance. Condolence for Soldiers who lost their life while protecting our frontiers.
 

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