Mortal remains of 9 soldiers flown to Siachen base camp

JAMMU: The mortal remains of nine soldiers who died in an avalanche on Siachen glacier were today brought down to Siachen base in Ladakh sector from where they will be later taken to Leh after the weather clears.

"All the mortal remains have reached Siachen base camp today," a senior Army officer said.

Choppers ferried them to Siachen base from the high altitude post after a brief improvement in weather.

The helicopters are awaiting a window of good weather to further take them to Leh, the officer said, adding that the MeT department has predicted a clear day tomorrrow.

"Weather between Siachen base camp and Leh is reportedly not fit for helicopter operation. Therefore all mortal remains have been moved to Military Hospital, Hunder (near Parthapur), for embalming and custody till weather clears," he said.

Bad weather conditions had earlier hampered the airlifting of the bodies from the high altitude post in Siachen glacier.

A Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) and nine other soldiers of Madras Regiment were buried on February 3 after their post was hit by the avalanche at an altitude of 19,600 ft close to the Line of Control (LoC) with Pakistan, where the temperature was minus 45 degrees Celsius.

While Lance Naik Hanamanthappa Koppad was miraculously dug out alive, 9 other bodies were recovered on February 9.

The mortal remains of those brought down to Siachen base include Subedar Nagesha TT of Tejur village, Hassan district, Karnataka, Havildar Elumalai M of Dukkam Parai village, Vellore district, Tamil Nadu, Lance Havildar S Kumar of Kumanan Thozhu village, Theni district, Tamil Nadu, Lance Naik Sudheesh of Monroethuruth village, Kollam district, Kerala and Sepoy Mahesha PN of HD Kote village, Mysore district, Karnataka.

Sepoy Ganesan of Chokkathevan Patti village, Madurai district, Tamil Nadu, Sepoy Rama Moorthy of Gudisatana Palli village, Krishnagiri District, Tamil Nadu, Sepoy Mustaq Ahmed of Parnapalle village, Kurnool district, Andhra Pradesh and Sepoy (Nursing Assistant) Suryawanshi S V of Maskarwadi village, Satara district, Maharashtra are the others whose remains were transported to the base.