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Siachen tragedy - Day 7: Foreign teams arrive to help avalanche rescuers
Low temperatures hampering the effectiveness of heavy machinery being used to dig through the mass of snow and ice.
Low temperatures hampering the effectiveness of heavy machinery being used to dig through the mass of snow and ice. PHOTO: ISPR
ISLAMABAD: The rescue operation in Siachen entered its seventh day with the arrival of three Swiss, six German and eight American experts on Friday.
The search operation, undertaken to evacuate buried soldiers, gained momentum after German, Swiss and American experts reached the Gayari area, a military official administering the army operation said.
Other military officials, who provide updates about the rescue operation through a helpline, said that at present rescuers are set to dig a 130-foot tunnel into the snow and are mainly focusing on six ‘priority points’ where they believe the army’s battalion headquarters was present in Gyari.
The rescue teams had earlier focused on five priority points and the sixth one was added on Thursday. More than 450 rescuers are working in sub-zero temperatures at the site, though experts have said there is virtually no chance of finding any survivors.
The officials while talking to The Express Tribune said that the rescue teams have managed to reach the accommodation area of the battalion’s building structure and are now trying to find the buried troops under the snow with the help of sniffer dogs.
One of the officers also added that the foreign rescuers have reached the Gayari sector by road, after travelling through long and difficult routes carrying special equipments. He appreciated the spirit of the foreign teams and said their arrival would help speed up the operation.
According to an official statement issued by Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR), the search and rescue operation at Gayari is going on at top speed despite severe weather condition, snowstorms and low temperature.
Spokesman ISPR Major General Athar Abbas said that the spirit of troops busy in rescue operation is high and that they are determined to “dig out their valiant comrades from tones of snow.” He however added that the low temperature poses serious challenge to the effectiveness of the equipments being used in the operation.
“The spirit of troops busy in rescue operation is high, who are determined to dig out their valiant comrades from under tonnes of snow. The low temperature poses serious challenge to the effectiveness of plant equipment too,” an ISPR press release said on Friday.
Disregarding difficulties posed by 145 feet high pile of snow in the vicinity and extreme cold at the bottom of excavation, the troops are attempting a horizontal tunnel at the base of main excavation site to access suspected location of a structure to reach out to survivors.
The access tracks have been improved. Some infantry troops grouped into small teams continued to be employed on the periphery for search work. The outflow of water channel remains the same.
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Reader Comments (25)
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If there is building down there then is is chance of survivors…INSHALLAH I gurantee you that We will find Alive people down there…Go on cheetoooo
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Was it a landslide or avalanche?. NDMA needs to engage experts and find out in scientific manner.
It seems it was a massive landslide which gathers debris,boulders and snow as it fell.It looks like it was huge
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:(
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Only our all weather friend China c
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Only our all weather friend China can help us in this weather.
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Foreigners apart from their equipment and gear, they have no experience of rescue of this scale
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I m frm.kashmir we all pray for our shers to be safe! long live the pak army lions.Recommend
@Spaniard:
Not to intentionally spoil the optimism but, after hearing how much snow is on top of that building, especially with the force behind it, it’s most likely to have caved in at this point.
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@Faesal:
um. Yes they do. Do you think Siachen is the only area with avalanches? Also, it can also be the equivalent of a large building collapsing and looking for survivors/bodies. The only difference is what tools would be used.
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I’m from kashmir we all pray for the safety of our shers!long live lions of pakistan armyRecommend
@Spaniard:
How can you guarantee something that isn’t in your hand? would appreciate if you know what you are saying. Unfortunately, there will not be any oxygen left for such long period of time beneath such big pile of snow, but lets hope & pray for the better.
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@Faesal:
Dude, those so called foreigners have an experience of living in space, under the sea and in north pole, Antarctica etc if you didn’t know this already. Hope you get to travel from UK to France under the sea via road and rail, or travel to places like Jungfrujoch, Switzerland via rail just to know their capabilities.
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@Sadat mushtaq:
By the way it’s very sad incident and many have lost their son, father, brother, husband or friend and may god give them courage to over come this tragedy – soldiers from India and Pakistan are made to suffer the fury of nature due to hate and mistrust, I hope this madness ends soon and no more loss of life from both country…. Recommend
I appreciate ET for updating us about this. I have just checked other online news sites and they all seem to have forgotten our 124 soldiers. Compare this with 33 chile mine workers. BBC was live most of the time with their courage. Leave BBC , see Jang live news and you will see how imp this news is for them.Recommend
Agreed with Kaleem. This indicates with the how much wrong our priorities are, as a nation and as individuals of the Islamic Republic.
We give more priorities to people, who get killed for their political, religious or lucrative interests. However, we don’t care about people who sacrifice their lives for our protection while leaving their loved ones, those who get massacred in mosques/worship places or those side with the destitute.
Where is the “free” media and judiciary?
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We will find them, as either ghazis or shaheed, but we will find them. Pak Army zindabad.
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@Khan:
@MarkH:
I dont doubt their capability, but both of you have completely ignored my last wordings ” OF THIS SCALE “. Give me an example where these people dealt with avalanche of 1 km long, 20+m thick, and i am not sure about its width.
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It is very sad that the Pakistani soldiers were buried under a massive landslide in a glacier known as the world’s highest battlefield. I think it responsibility of the world community that they should involve themselves and help to find a lasting solution of this 63 year old dispute of Kashmir which is destabilizing the whole region.
Remember, this conflict has resulted three full scale wars and a smaller one during an ‘eye ball to eye ball’ at Kargil. It has still potential to escalate into a full-scale nuclear war.. More than 100 000 has so for died in Kashmir during the period of the armed conflict which began in 1988. With the presence of 700 000 Indian military torture, extra-judicial executions, disappearances, destruction of property and other human rights violations are the order of the day. We the people of Kashmir are waiting for a peaceful solution, but the question is how long shall we wait? The youth of Kashmir will be frustrated again.
Kashmir is at crucial and difficult phase, it needs an immediate world attention before the situation is out of control again. The people of Kashmir want to live a respectable life with a democracy that can only be restored by implementing the UN Security Council resolutions.
Why a the western world (as a responsible members country of UN) are not interfering to solve the problem of Kashmir according to the UN resolutions. Why these country who want to see the UN as a powerful and independent institution not reacting? Why they are allowing India to continue the brutalities with 700,000 illegally deployed soldiers in Kashmir?
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My point is that in Pakistan we always bash America and Westerners. America and European nations were the first one to lend a helping hand in search of finding of our soldiers. Our time tested friend China and Saudia are nowhere to be found and it is the time for Pakistan to rethink their strategy decisively that who is our friend or foe.
In my view no one is your friend or a foe. It is the interests that matter and now Chinese interests are becoming more global and they are restraining away from Pakistan. As far as Saudia is concerned they dont have any policy rather than enjoying on Oil money and that is all. Pakistan should re device its strategy that how our interests will coincide with other nations so that both will be a beneficiary in the end,
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@Ali Shahnawaz Khan: Well Pakistan started the war and according to UN resolution India has the right to maintain the army in srinagar. The matter would have also been solved if Pakistan had not given color of Islam to this conflict. What about the innocent kashmiri pandits who were killed by Pakistani militants, Indian army is there to protect them.
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@lobe: Shame on you my Indian friend for Distorting and Manipulating History.. So now you are blaming Pakistani Army for killing of Kashmiri Hindus??. Kashmiri pandit problem have nothing to do with Pakistani Army What about hundreds of thousands of Kashmiri Muslims slaughtered over time. They are in fact no human being for Indians???. And I could just say I am apalled at the murder of History done by you. According to UN resolution Neither India nor Pakistan have any right to meld in Kashmir and they have the right to self determination. India is violating the UN resolution which states that It is the right of Kashmiris to decide how they want to live but India is violating that treaty.
So what UN resolution are you talking about??.
India is in fact violating the UN resolution by not holding plebiscite inside Kashmir. In 1948 who bring Soldiers in Kashmir is a part of history .Also after 60s everyone knows it was due to Indian Army. SIachen conflict started when Indian Army violate the treaty and capture parts of this Glacier as a Bid to advance to Gilgit Baltistan regions otherwise Indian Army could not capture GIlgit and Pakistan have to retaliate and Indian Army have to retreat from capturing Gilgit Baltistan.
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No chance of survivors and also impossible to rescue the all the bodies.
Consider that area is national cemetery and pay last respects to the fallen soldiers.Recommend
@lobe:
Show me what resolution you are talking about, There is resolution in UN which tells india to hold plebiscite in Kashmir which you never did.
Kashmiri muslims are majority in kashmir valley and the majority does not want associate themselves with india. India is seen as oppressor and occupational force.
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@Faesal:
Get over yourself. Just thank and be grateful for those who are helping especially the foreigners they absolutely have no obligation. And yes they do have the expertise and equipment otherwise they wouldn’t be there.
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Hopping for the best InshaAllah
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