Manohar Parrikar asks country to pray for soldier

NEW DELHI: Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar today urged the country to pray for the recovery of braveheart Lance Naik Hanamanthappa Koppad who miraculously survived after being buried under snow for six days on Siachen glacier.

Parrikar, who visited Koppad at the Army Research and Referral hospital here, said his prayers are with the soldier.

"Doctors are putting in best (efforts). Let us pray for him," he told reporters outside the hospital.

Parrikar met the doctors treating him and inquired about the soldier's health.

Koppad is comatose and his condition is extremely critical, the hospital had said earlier in the day, after he was flown in here from Siachen glacier today.