Timely warning saved over 100 Armymen

Chances of the 26 missing soldiers,whose camp at Tyakshi is under more than 20 feet of mud,being alive are fast fading. Three bodies have been recovered from the forward border post,located close to the Pakistani border and Army believes two or three soldiers could have been swept away by the Shyok river to Pakistan.

The Army has informed Pakistan about the incident and that enhanced flight operations would be conducted close to the border to drop supplies to stranded troops and trace the missing soldiers.

The Army has denied reports that it has asked the Pakistani Army to help it find the missing soldiers.” Some sort of a lake was formed after heavy rains as one of the nallas collected a lot of water. The lake broke like a dam bursting and brought down the entire hill over the post,” Lt Gen S K Singh,General Officer Commanding,14 Corps,said.

Worse,over 10 km of the road leading to the post was also washed away. Singh,who took a helicopter ride to the post,said it is under over 20 feet of slush and several buildings and vehicles are completely submerged. “Our total losses are about 26 boys and the bulk of them are buried under rubble.The possibility that one or two soldiers may have been washed away cannot be ruled out,” Lt Gen Singh said.

More than 100 soldiers at the Ladakh Scouts Regimental Centre had a miraculous escape as they were moved out of their barracks a few hours before it was washed away in the flood.

“We got some warning after heavy rains were reported in Nemo and placed soldiers at the centre on night training duty. Fortunately,this decision saved lives of over 100 soldiers as they were out of their barracks that were washed away in the flash floods,” Lt Gen Singh told The Indian Express.

He said the Army’s top priority now was to restore connectivity to scores of posts on the border that are completely cut off. The good news is that other than the Tyagshi post,no major loss of life has been reported from the forward posts so far.