Eleven people, including a Border Roads Organisation officer and a year-old baby girl, died when snow avalanches hit at two places in Tangdhar area of border district Kupwara. The bodies were retrieved on Saturday after they remained buried for the night under thick layer of snow.
The avalanche hit a BRO vehicle and a passenger cab on Sadhna Top in Tangdar area on Friday afternoon. Officials said that the deceased include six men, two women and a year-old baby girl. One woman passenger was untraced till last reports came in from the area.
The joint rescue operation by the Army, police, local volunteers and State Disaster Relief Unit, continued in the area with tough terrain and inhospitable weather conditions. The area is hit with poor visibility due to dense fog.
The bodies of three civilian passengers including a woman were retrieved late on Friday. Three persons were rescued and hospitalised for treatment at Srinagar hospital.
A BRO officer MP Singh, a resident of Varanasi in UP was killed in the first avalanche when his parked vehicle was swept away. Nine passengers went missing after another snow avalanche struck their cab at around 4 pm on Friday.
The area is around 170 kilometers from Srinagar. Sadhna Top is situated at around 11,000 ft above sea level and is snow avalanche-prone area while human lives are wasted in accidents every year during winters.
The cab was on its way from Kupwara to Karnah when the mishap took place near Khooni Nullah on Sadhna Pass.
The 70-km long lone surface link connecting Karnah with Kupwara usually remains closed for at least three months during winters due to heavy snowfall.
However this winter season, the road is through for traffic after few days of closure in mid-December following snowfall.
Last year, a soldier of the Indian Army carried the body of his mother for two days on shoulders to give her a decent burial at their ancestral graveyard. The incident made headline in media.
There is a demand for construction of a 6-kilometer tunnel from Chowkibal Kupwara to Zarla Morh in Karnah.that will provide safe road connectivity while bypassing avalanche prone zones on the Sadhna Top.