Just within 5 days after being rescued from a deadly avalanche, the 5 soldiers who were rescued after they were trapped under snow have succumbed to their injuries.
The 5 soldiers were buried under snow on January 28 in Machil sector in J&K but were pulled out alive after a day-long effort.
They were being brought to Srinagar today for specialist medical care, despite persistent poor weather conditions, when, unfortunately, all succumbed to their injuries taking the number of troops dead due to snow-related incidents in J&K state to 21 in a week.
No helicopter sorties could take place on Saturday and Sunday to either Gurez or Machil sectors due to foggy weather and continuing snowfall there.
The mortal remains of 14 soldiers who were killed in an avalanche in Gurez, were also brought to Srinagar today in Indian Air Force helicopters.
The soldiers from the 56 Rashtriya Rifles were on routine counter-insurgency duties when the accident took place.
Four avalanches had hit the Gurez sector and Sonmarg on Wednesday, killing 15 soldiers and five civilians.
Two of the avalanches hit a military post and a patrol team along the Line of Control (LoC) in last few days.
Earlier, an army major was also killed in an avalanche in Ganderbal district.
The bodies would be taken to their native places on Tuesday for last rites.
