Avalanche
More than 100 Pakistani soldiers and civilian personnel were trapped after their base was hit by an avalanche in the Kashmir region.
According to a report from Al Jazeera, roughly 150 soldiers were deployed to search the snow that had cascaded down from the Himalayas, after the avalanche swept over the camp on the Siachen glacier.
However, darkness and bad weather forced rescuers to postpone their search. Speaking to Al Jazeera, Major General Athar Abbas, the Pakistan military spokesman, said a rescue operation using helicopters, search dogs and soldiers was under way.
He warned: ‘It will take days to complete the rescue operations’, due to the climate and difficulty of the terrain. The high altitude region suffers extreme weather conditions, with temperatures on the Siachen glacier plummeting as low as minus 70 degrees Celsius (minus 94F) during the winter.
The Siachen glacier, on the tip of the Kashmir region, rises to 6000 metres above sea level and is home to an estimated 15,000 soldiers from both nations.
