Hopes fading fast for finding buried Pak soldiers in Siachen
April 09, 2012  17:54

Hopes were fading fast for finding any surviors buried under tonnes of ice as Pakistani military rescuers were hampered by fresh snowfall and bad weather in an increasingly desperate search for 139 people, mostly soldiers, hit by an avalanche in Siachen sector, close to the Indian border.

Almost 52 hours after mounds of snow came crushing down on to the remote Battalion headquarters of the army high up in Karakoram, rescuers were yet to come across any survivors or any bodies despite pressing sniffer dogs and specialised snow clearing equipment.

An eight-member team of US experts, which arrived in Pakistan from Afghanistan yesterday to help in the rescue efforts, was unable to travel to Gyari, the site of the accident, this morning due to bad weather.

The US Embassy spokesman said authorities were standing by to provide any assistance need by their Pakistani counterparts.

Daytime temperature dipped to minus 15 degrees Celsius following heavy snowfall in the region where the avalanche occurred on Saturday, and the rescuers were hampered by the extreme weather conditions.

 

Read the related story on the Telegraph. Brutal reminder from frozen frontier

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