Feb. 8: At least 17 soldiers, including an officer, were killed and an equal number of others injured when a massive avalanche buried a training camp of the Army’s High Altitude Warfare School (HAWS) near Gulmarg on Monday. “In spite of the best efforts of the rescue team, one officer and 16 soldiers lost their lives while two had minor injuries and 15 were given medical aid,” defence authorities here said, adding, “All personnel have been recovered and accounted for. A brigadier from the formation is overseeing the rescue operations.”

Earlier, officials had said that as many as 450 soldiers were being imparted training at Khilanmarg, on the fringes of Gulmarg about 70 km northwest of here, when 80 of them were swept away by the avalanche. Gulmarg and other hilly areas of the Kashmir Valley have been receiving heavy snowfall since Friday. However,about 400 domestic and foreign tourists currently at Gulmarg with their local helpers and hosts “are safe and enjoying the weather, skiing and other winter sport,” said a tourism department spokesperson. Eighty persons were believed to be trapped in the snow, but at the time of going to press the Army said everyone had been accounted for and that the rescue operation was almost over.The latest reports from Gulmarg said a group of ski instructors and other staff of the tourism department, proficient locals and police teams have joined the rescue operation at Khilanmarg. State minister for tourism Nasir Aslam Wani is also camping at Gulmarg whereas chief minister Omar Abdullah is in touch with senior officers and top Army authorities stationed at the ski resort and is personally monitoring rescue operations, an official release here said.The Army too has pressed into service the latest equipment and sniffer dog squads to relocate survivors and bodies. A handout issued by the government at Jammu says 15 soldiers have been killed and 401 are still feared trapped under the avalanche. Local news agencies have reported 20 dead and 33 seriously injured, of whom 12 have been admitted to the Army Base Hospital at Badamibagh here, and 17 others as missing. But the defence spokesperson, Lt. Col. J.S. Brara, said only 17 soldiers have died, including a Lieutenant Pratekh, and 17 sustained minor injuries. He said hostile weather, including continuing snowfall, is hampering rescue operations and that it was for this reason that Army helicopters could not fly into the area. The High Altitude Warfare School has been working as a full-fledged high altitude warfare school since April 1962, when it was designated a Category A training establishment and renamed the High Altitude Warfare School. Though the training courses are held also in Himachal Pradesh and some other places in the Himalayas, the main school campus is at Gulmarg and trains soldiers to guard the frontiers in Jammu and Kashmir and the Northeast. But in recent years the elite force has been used mainly in the Siachen area, the world’s highest battle ground.Reports received here said the avalanche hit the HAWS advance camp at Gujjar Hut at 11 am and that about 300 Army trainees, 100 trainers and 50-60 support staff had been participating in it since Sunday. When the avalanche hit the camp, there were about 50 civilians also there watching the activity. It is still not known whether any civilians are among the trapped. The Snow Avalanche Study Establishment (SASE) had issued an avalanche warning on Sunday evening itself, asking people living in high-altitude areas not to venture out in view of the heavy snowfall of the past three days. In Jammu and Kashmir, the high-danger areas include Sonamarg, Gagangir, Laar, Bhimbat, Drass, Batalic, Dhudi and S.M. Hills besides some areas in Kupwara, Baramulla and Bandipore districts, particularly Khilanmarg, Uri, Baaz, Razdan Top, Z-Gali, Keran, Furkian Top, Machael, Sadna Top, Urez, Niru, Baruab and Chowkibal.The areas for which a low-danger avalanche warning has been issued include both sides of the Jawahar Tunnel and the adjoining areas along the 294-km Srinagar-Jammu highway which remained closed to vehicular traffic for the third day running on Monday. “Avalanche warnings exist in the high-altitude areas for the next 24 hours. People living in the areas are cautioned to avoid movement during snowfall and not to venture out in avalanche-prone areas,” Mr Amir Ali, in charge of disaster management, Kashmir, had said on Sunday quoting the SASE.

Yusuf Jameel Srinagar