Srinagar, Jan 6: The death toll in avalanche at Khoni Nallah near Sadhna Top in Tangdhar sector of north Kashmir’s Kupwara district rose to eleven on Saturday evening. Meanwhile, the rescue operations are underway.
Earlier in the day, Baseer Ahmed Khan, Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir, had said, “Death toll in Kupwara’s Tangdhar avalanche reaches eight.”
Nine persons, including six tourists, were reported missing after the cab they were travelling in was swept away by an avalanche in North Kashmir’s Kupwara district on Friday.
“Yes we too received an information of the accident and we rushed a team of police for the rescue, the area is very far flung and not reachable, and it is snowing in the area so we cannot confirm any killing yet. Our team has reached the area and they have started rescue with the help of local people,” Kashmir Reader had quoted SSP Kupwara Shamshar Hussain, as saying.
On December 12, 2017, three soldiers had gone missing in Gurez when a snow avalanche hit their picket. The Army had deployed specially trained teams of its high altitude warfare school (HAWS) to recover the bodies of the missing soldiers. Two bodies were recovered from the Gurez sector of the Line of Control (LoC) in Bandipora, while one was recovered from Nowgam sector of Kupwara, days later.
Meanwhile, cold wave continued in the Valley and the Ladakh region as the Met forecast light rain or snow in Jammu and Kashmir till Saturday.
Leh was the coldest recorded place in the state. The night temperature in Leh town of the frontier Ladakh region went down over 5 degrees from a low of minus 10.3 degrees Celsius the previous night to settle at a low of minus 15.6 degrees last night.
Gulmarg recorded a low of minus 9.4 degrees Celsius whereas, Kupwara in north Kashmir recorded a low of minus 3.2 degrees Celsius.
Kashmir is currently under the grip of ‘Chillai-Kalan’, the 40-day harshest winter period.