2017 Gurez sector avalanche

Gurez avalanche
Date 25 January 2017 (2017-01-25)
Location Jammu and Kashmir, India
Coordinates 34°36′18″N 74°57′42″E / 34.60500°N 74.96167°E / 34.60500; 74.96167Coordinates: 34°36′18″N 74°57′42″E / 34.60500°N 74.96167°E / 34.60500; 74.96167
Deaths 24 (20 soldiers, 4 civilians), (Some people are still missing)

The Gurez Avalanche Accident was a series of four avalanches that claimed the lives of 24 persons, including 20 soldiers and four civilians in Jammu and Kashmir on the evening of 25 January 2017.[1][2][3]

Avalanche

There was heavy snowfall before the accident, there had been multiple avalanches in Jammu and Kashmir. The Chandigarh based Snow and Avalanche Study Establishment warned of more avalanches in Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh before the accident took place.

The first avalanche hit Gurez on 25 of January morning, in which a family of four civilians died. The second took place around the same time in Sonmarg, chiefly a tourist area, where an army camp was located. While seven soldiers were rescued later Indian Army Braveheart Major Amit Sagar, who had been buried in snow was martyred

In the evening, two avalanches again hit the Gurez Valley roughly 150 km from Sonmarg in quick succession. One affected an army camp located there, the other hit a group of soldiers who had been out on patrol. The bodies of 10 soldiers have been recovered from the area, the army said. It is not yet known how many soldiers are missing.[4]

On 28 January 4 more bodies of soldiers were found taking the death toll to 15 soldiers.[5]

References

  1. ↑ "Gurez Avalanche accident" (26 January 2017). NDTV. Retrieved 26 January 2017.
  2. ↑ "Gurez death toll rises" (27 January 2017). NDTV. Retrieved 27 January 2017.
  3. ↑ "Kashmir avalanche death toll climbs to 24". Al Jazeera. 27 January 2017.
  4. ↑ "Gurez Avalanche accident" (26 January 2017). NDTV. Retrieved 26 January 2017.
  5. ↑ "Gurez death toll rises" (27 January 2017). NDTV. Retrieved 27 January 2017.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.