ISLAMABAD: Toxic gases Tuesday hampered the search for 138 people buried by an avalanche at a high-altitude Pakistan army camp, as teams from the United States and Norway arrived at the site to help operations.
A huge wall of snow crashed into the remote Siachen Glacier base high in the mountains in disputed Kashmir more than a week ago, smothering an area of one square kilometre (a third of a square mile).
Rescuers have dug tunnels in the hard mass of snow and ice to try to reach the buried soldiers and civilians at the Giari base, but toxic gases have built up inside one of them, the military said in a statement.
A rise in the temperature has increased the risk of further snow slides, the statement said, forcing workers on the site to take extra precautions.
Specialist teams from Norway and the United States arrived at Giari, while Swiss and German teams have returned home after helping the efforts.
Search teams are looking for the trapped soldiers and civilians at six different points on the site, around 4,000 metres (13,000 feet) up in the mountains.
More than 450 rescuers are working at the site near the de facto border with India in the militarised region of Kashmir, though experts have said there is virtually no chance of finding any survivors.
Kashmir has been the cause of two wars between India and Pakistan and the rivals fought over Siachen in 1987, though guns on the glacier have largely fallen silent since a peace process began in 2004.
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Asma is the only honest voice against the land grabbing military generals who have bankrupted Pakistan with fruitless wars and backward cold war era foreign policies like "strategic depth" that has taken away scarce resources from education and health for common pakistanis (includes our soldiers). The generals and commanders don't care as their kids are all studying in America and go on to work in wall street.
Any update on the rescue work?
@Ashvinn:
Why do Indians love embarassing themselves here? Talk about abusing the anonymity status on the internet.
May Allah do, what is in the favour of the victims!
The extreme weather, suffocation, no nutrition and now this Toxic gas,, No chances of the victims' survival!! :( May Allah Do what is in their favour.
What toxi gases? Is Pakistan storing chemical weapons at this place?
@Zain:
I suggested the same in early days.
@Naeem Malik: What do u mean by saying that Asma jhangir is honest she is the most corrupt civil worker who has no respect for Pakistan army. And is always complaining about such a respected institution. If she is a human right worker so tell her to come and speak against human right violation of life loss at siachin. Did she spoke of anything about the incident but rather kept a mumble because she can only critsize the blood of our brave men
@Yunos: Even I was wondering what toxic gases would be found at that temperature and altitude.
Ya Allah, we have faith in u, no matter what anyone says. Ghazis or shuhadah insha'a Allah
What type of toxic gas? CO2, Methane ??
@truebluepakistani: Withdrawal is not an option. If we back down, the indians will capture it. Not at all we are going away
@Wajahat: If this part of Kashmir is not "disputed" then why do Pakistan and India have large army contingents exchanging ceremonial fire and getting killed by frostbite and avalanches in that god forsaken place?
Also, I like to think of the Tribune as a Ms. rather than a Mr. :p
@antony: Allah knows better than u..he is all knowing..
@Khan: Having still been hardened by the same climate it would be more likened to a rocky mountainside falling rather than fresh, soft snow.
I request to all Muslims and all Pakistani's to pray for the trapped army'sin siachen and Allah Bless him (AMIN) THANKS
@Nasir: Thank you for the explanation. I was of course referring to the time when avalanche occurred .. the top snow must have been soft, which could have been removed quickly. Snow gets hard as rock with time.
@Khan. Unlike fresh snow this evalance snow is very compact and in such subzero temperatuere is hard like solid rock. Snowblowers can only blow fresh snow. Temperature is so low at that place that even Ice melting chemicals are not useful.
May Allah swt grant them victory over this severe weather conditions and turn this into an opportunity to make a great success of Pakistan
Of course whole world is watching how Pakistan Army works!
@Khan - The snow-blower you've mentioned is for 'soft' snow. The snow accumulated from the avalanche has now turned rock-hard. A blower would not be able to just extract snow due to suction and simply blow it out. You need tough material that can pierce through the hard icy formation to break it apart. Also, the blower you mentioned is for ground level surface. Not sure how it would work if you're excavating through the land.
@Asim what are u talking about, why u mention Asma Jahangir? she is very honest and brave women.
Declare it as national Cemetery, pray for the lost souls. Withdraw from Siachen immediately.
What kind of machinery we are using? from the dp it seems we never tried to rescue our men .. Do we have some kind of snowblower as, from previous pictures it seemed it was open space and not steep ground. Can not we use something like this snowblower
May Allah save them
with all the prayers from whole pakistan still Allah is not helping the rescue efforts is the only conclusion ..Why you may ask .
This is an ultimate sacrifice one can afford to a country. But perhaps a nation having Asma Jahangir and Firdous Ashiq Awan doesn't deserve such sacrifices.