New Delhi: Two Army soldiers were killed in an avalanche in Siachen on Sunday, military sources said. The incident took place in sub-sector Haneef around 1 pm on Sunday, they said. “The two soldiers could only be rescued by 7 pm and they succumbed to their injuries,” said a source. Other soldiers and porters who were also in the area when the avalanche struck it are stable and out of danger, the sources said.
The Siachen glacier at the height of around 20,000 ft in the Karakoram range is known as the highest militarised zone in the world where soldiers have to battle frostbite and high winds. Avalanches and landslides are common at the glacier and temperatures can drop to as low as minus 60 degrees Celsius.
WHAT IS A AVALANCHE ?
An avalanche (also called a snowslide) is a rapid flow of snow down a slope, such as a hill or mountain Avalanches can be set off spontaneously, by such factors as increased precipitation or snowpack weakening, or by external means such as humans, animals, and earthquakes. Primarily composed of flowing snow and air, large avalanches have the capability to capture and move ice, rocks, and trees. They occur in two general forms, or some combination: slab avalanches made of tightly packed snow, triggered by a collapse of an underlying weak snow layer, and loose snow avalanches made of looser snow. After being set off, avalanches usually accelerate rapidly and grow in mass and volume as they capture more snow. If an avalanche moves fast enough, some of the snow may mix with the air, forming a powder snow avalanche.
