After suffering 14 casualties from couple of days due to snow avalanches in North Kashmir, all but five soldiers on Saturday went missing after a pathway cleared in the snow caved in in Kashmir’s Kupwara district.Kashmir Valley witnessed yet again fresh snow fall on Saturday while according to reports there was heavy snowfall in North Kashmir that threw life out of gear.An army spokesperson said the five soldiers were on patrol near a camp in Machhal sector when they were buried under several feet of snow. Snow tracks are pathways carved out through snow to facilitate movement of men and vehicles. “Rescue operations by army underway,” he added.The fresh incident came two days after two avalanches killed 14 soldiers in the Gurez sector near the border between Indian and Pakistani.
Meanwhile, authorities sounded an avalanche warning for higher reaches of the Kashmir and Chenab Valley and Ladakh region. Divisional administration issued the high avalanche warnings for hilly areas in Baramulla, Kupwara, Kulgam, Ganderbal, Shopian, Anantnag, Leh and Kargil districts, advising people living there not to venture out of their homes till the warnings were withdrawn. District magistrates of the districts were asked to supervise all relief and rescue operations in avalanche-prone areas. The weather office said the minimum temperature on Saturday here was 0.8 degrees Celsius. Pahalgam and Gulmarg recorded minus 0.1 and minus 6.6, respectively, while Leh recorded minus 10.1 degrees Celsius.Three residential house were damaged after an avalanche struck Neeru village of Tulail tehsil of Gurez in north Kashmir's Bandipora district.The houses belong to Manzoor Ahmad Lone, Muhammad Subhan and Abdul Rashid Lone. However, no loss of life was reported. (CNS)