The mortal remains of three soldiers - Naik Subedar Kisan Sakharam Mane of the 26 Maratha Light Infantry, Lance Naik Ankush Dadasaheb Javak of 108 Engineer Regiment and Sapper Suresh Appasaheb Deshmukh of 108 Engineers Regiment - who lost their lives at Siachen Glacier and Kargil were received with full military honours at Lohegaon airport today. Their mortal remains will be taken to their respective villages where the last rites will be performed.

If fighting the enemy was not enough, the soldiers even have to brave the hostile elements of nature. A simple mistake and they could lose lives. Naik Subedar Mane was patrolling a section when he fell into a crevice on October 20. The crevice was so deep that the authorities took over eight days to recover the body.

Mane hails from Yadrao village in Bhalwani taluka in Solapur district. He is survived by his wife, two sons and two daughters. Naik Subedar Mane has spent 18 years in the army.

Lance Naik Ankush Javak and Sapper Suresh Deshmukh fell prey to a mine blast in Kargil. They were assigned to repair a bridge near the Mount Nimbu-Leh Roadon November 1 when the incident occurred. Deshmukh had just completed two years of training when he was posted to Kargil. He is survived by his mother Rajshri and father Appasaheb. His elder brother is also in the army. Deshmukh hails from Sonand village in Sangola taluka, Solapur district. His father is a farm labourer and mother a housewife.

Lance Naik Javak has been with the army for more than 12 years. He hails from Raigavhan village in Parner taluka, Ahmednagar district. He is survived by his wife and two children.

Col R M Choudhary, Commanding Officer, 108 Engineer Regiment and Bhagat Singh Deshmukh, director of the Sainik Welfare Board were present at the airport to receive the bodies. Pune MP Pradeep Rawat also paid his tributes.