Inhospitable weather on Monday forced President Asif Ali Zardari to cancel his trip to Gyari, an avalanche tragedy in Siachen, as day 10 posed serious climatic difficulties for rescuers.
President Zardari was planning to visit the Gyari sector – where an avalanche struck at a Pakistan Army camp on April 7 and buried 138 people including troops and civilians – to inspect the rescue operation being spearheaded by the military with assistance from international rescuers.
The President’s staff was informed about the deteriorating weather conditions in Skardu and the visit was called off. Spokesperson to the President Senator Farhatullah Babar confirmed that the president was due to visit Gyari to express solidarity with the “defenders of the frontiers” but his trip was cancelled due to “unsuitable weather conditions”.
Similarly, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani is also waiting for the approval of aviation authorities to give weather clearance for a trip to the Siachen Glacier.
Meanwhile, a group comprising 46 members from national and international media teams that was set to fly for the rescue site could not land at the Skardu airport on Monday due to harsh weather.
The control tower informed aviation authorities that landing of a C-130 military cargo plane would be a dangerous step as more than 55 personnel were onboard including media and plane crew.
Media representatives had been asking for this visit from day one of the Siachen tragedy but weather hazards persisted and the trip did not materialise.
An Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) official said that they tried their best to take the media team to Siachen and even reached Skardu but the weather was too hostile for a chopper flight. It was then decided that a C-130 cargo plane would be used. The military official said that the visit was called off and would be reorganised keeping in mind the weather reports.
Meanwhile, the Pakistan Meteorological Office has predicted more rain and thunderstorm in the next 24 hours in Gilgit-Baltistan and the surroundings areas.
Rescue operation
Despite the obstacles posed by the weather, the search and rescue operation at Gyari continued round the clock on the tenth day.
According to a press release issued by the military’s media cell on Monday, weather remained “very harsh” and posed serious challenges to the men and machines working at the avalanche site.
“However, the spirit and zeal of courageous soldiers has not wavered under arduous conditions,” read the statement.
It was revealed that the work at the tunnel – being dug in the compact snow of avalanche, needed to access a suspected structure to find survivors – has made considerable progress by using explosives.
A team of German and Swiss rescuers also assisted the military team in collecting valuable data and information to locate possible survivors.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 17th, 2012.
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@ Khan, i can understand your frustration but You know whats the actual problem, other than mentioned by Aleem that when avalanche hits a place, you dont find the person or structure there! u dont know where it will take the object, perhaps right there burying it down and down or may be 100s of meters away somewhere, you just dont know it!!! so u start with the most likely places and expand your search. its just like the drowning of a man in river...u dont know where would you find the body down stream or perhaps right there in the bottom. Plz dont take in account the presence of buildings there...they are just like straws in front of avalanches. i have seen some real avalanches, was victim of one...its really horrible. effects could be realized by watching TWISTERS Movie..the way houses and other things fly in air...there is much to it when it is Avalanche. Pray that people have some air pockets available to last this long. Lastly, it is not easy to cut the snow which at these altitudes gets rock solid with in hours if not minutes. furthermore, when its an amalgamation of rocks, soil and so on...then u can not even use snow cutters...u have to resort to vintage methods....Spades. I hope it pacifies your frustrations? Pray.
@ Abdul Aleem: Yes, abslutly agreed on your judgement on Khan's comments. I also little bite shocked thinking that how we are easily indulging in blames game of inefficiency without knowing the ground realities.
And on the other hand after 10 days, our Mr. Ten% at least thinks that to visit Gayari sector to fullfil the need of his dirity politics.
@Khan: You have no idea what kind of tragedy you are talking about. Its not just snow, it was an avalanche containing hard ice and rocks. The height of snow cover is one hundred feet....
I am sure that you have never even gone closer to this altitude, otherwise your comments would be entirely different. At this altitude and temperature, its challenging to even just walk and you are talking about digging a 100 feet of ice and rocks.
@khan, yes and now I realize why this news didnt get to any front page in papers. It seems people are less focused on 134 soldiers and more on seraiki province.
So after ten days they realize they should go .........
Guys, its 10 days.... 500 people working non stop, including foreign teams. How long does it take to drill holes in snow? Whats going on there? Height of Inefficiency. Lack of comments shows that people have moved on to other nonsense headlines and with their lives..
This visit is just point scoring and nothing else. He should have visited the place in first 2-3 days if ha was so much concerned but at that he was busy in his dirty politics. He did the same thing when Pakistan was struck with one of the worst floods in its history. I'm not even in the favour of this visit, it would put extra burden on military and distract the recovery operation. These infidels should stay within the walls of President house.
bravo! Politicians and media.... Ten days after the tragedy, the president thinks he should boost the morale of the soldiers.. U r indeed great, mr. Supreme commander... This event means nothing to media but yet another bunch of propaganda and a lots of false and fabricated analysis... For politicians it will be one of the many chances to become heroes by politicizing the matter... Otherwise, who cares if a soldier dies???? Hypcrites will remain hypocrites and brave soldiers will continue their work with zeal... LONG LIVE PAK ARMY