The bodies of the soldiers who were buried in snow for nine months and were martyred during a military operation, can now be retrieved
The bodies of three army personnel who were martyred in an avalanche near Mount Kun peak in Kargil in Ladakh have been recovered after almost nine months. The body of another martyr in this accident had already been found.
This is how the accident happened in 2023
Actually, on October 8, 2023, a team of 40 army personnel of the Army’s High Altitude Warfare School located in Gulmarg in Baramulla district was training to climb at an altitude of more than 18,300 feet near Mount Kun. During this training, there was heavy snowfall and an avalanche occurred. Many soldiers were trapped in it. In this accident, four soldiers of the team went missing in a crevice. Efforts were started to search for them. The body of Lance Naik Stanzin Targis, who was martyred, was recovered on the same day, while three army personnel Havildar Rohit Kumar, Havildar Thakur Bahadur Ale and Naik Gautam Rajvanshi went missing after being buried in snow.
Bodies found after nine months after nine days of digging
The place where this accident happened receives heavy snowfall in the post-October season. In such a situation, the search for the missing army personnel had to be stopped. Now when some snow melted, the search was started again. This operation was named ‘Operation RTG’ after Havildar Rohit, Havildar Thakur Bahadur and Naik Gautam. A team of 88 people worked for 12 hours a day in extremely difficult conditions for about nine days. After this, the bodies of the three martyrs were recovered from the crack between the thick layers of snow.
“He is not heavy, he is my brother”
Retired Brigadier Hardeep Singh Sohi said in a post on X that when four soldiers were lost on October 8, 2023, one body was recovered after six days of digging. This time the team went with chainsaws and GREF grade shovels using RECCO radar and successfully recovered the remaining three after 9 days of digging. The bodies were buried under a 70 feet high crack covered with snow. Earlier, he wrote on X, ‘He is not heavy, he is my brother’
