Avalanche traps about 150 Pakistani soldiers

[RazPaK]

This is absolutely terrible. I pray for the soldiers and their families. I think we need to keep hope, as some of them could be alive.

 

[Capt.Popeye]

Hopes fade for 135 feared dead in Pakistan avalanche | DAWN.COM

Hopes fade for 135 feared dead in Pakistan avalanche

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistani military on Sunday dug through snow, boulders and slush in an increasingly desperate search for 135 people buried in an avalanche, as hopes faded of finding any survivors.

Nearly 36 hours after a wall of snow crashed into a remote army camp high up in the mountains of Kashmir, rescuers were yet to recover any survivors or even bodies from the Siachen Glacier, where Pakistani and Indian troops face off.

The camp was engulfed between 5:00am and 6:00am on Saturday — perhaps when some were sleeping — by a mass of snow, stones, mud and slush more than 1,000 metres (3,300 feet) wide and 25 metres high, the military said in a statement.

About 180 military personnel and 60 civilian rescuers were braving freezing temperatures at the inhospitable site close to the de facto border with India, in area known as the world’s highest battlefield, the military said.

Experts familiar with the glacier said there was little hope of finding survivors — the military said overnight that 135 people were missing from the camp, including 124 soldiers from the 6th Northern Light Infantry battalion.

“There is no hope, there is no chance at all,” mountaineering expert Colonel Sher Khan told AFP.

“You can survive only in the first 5-10 minutes,” said Khan. “The casualties in avalanches occur due to pressure of heavy weight, extreme cold and lack of oxygen.”

The powerful army chief General Ashfaq Kayani visited the epicentre of the disaster and “supervised rescue operations himself”, the military said.

“The avalanche of such a magnitude was unprecedented in last 20 years of this Battalion Headquarters existence at Gayari,” he said.

General Kayani instructed the commanders “to optimally utilize all available resources at their disposal and leave no stone unturned to reach out to the entrapped personnel,” it said.

“It’s a huge, huge avalanche,” a senior military officer told AFP, adding rescue work would take several days.

Specially trained search-and-rescue teams of army engineers equipped with the latest locating gadgets and heavy machinery had arrived, the military statement said, joining rescue units aided by sniffer dogs and helicopters.

“Adequate medical staff has been made available for the treatment of injured persons in forward field hospitals,” it added.

A tailor and two hairdressers were among the civilians missing in the thick snow in the militarised region of Kashmir, which has caused two of the three wars between India and Pakistan since their independence in 1947 from Britain.

The operation is about recovery rather than rescue. Hypothermia and Hypoxia will have done all the damage.

 

[VCheng]

The operation is about recovery rather than rescue. Hypothermia and Hypoxia will have done all the damage.

Yes. I agree that now it will only be a recovery operation, sadly.

 

[RazPaK]

Everybody is giving up so easily? There may be air pockets.

 

[Gin ka Pakistan]

Its not snow but hard solid ice covering the incident site which means glacier moved example:- in north pole glaciers move with the pressure inside their surfaces and slide in to the ocean, same thing might have happened there.
They have to cut ice, which needs heavy machinery or source of heat to make wholes to reach down (like use of laser etc)

 

[VCheng]

Everybody is giving up so easily? There may be air pockets.

The real risk is hypothermia.

 

[RazPaK]

Its not snow but hard solid ice covering the incident site which means glacier moved example:- in north pole glaciers move with the pressure inside their surfaces and slide in to the ocean, same thing might have happened there.
They have to cut ice, which needs heavy machinery or source of heat to make wholes to reach down (like use of laser etc)

****, so that means some of the soldiers could be trapped in glacial crevices?

 

[Always Neutral]

Then kindly explain Mr conspiracy theorist do you think PA is stupid to built there Batallion headquater near Indian side.

Well I would really like to know how super dooper super powers like you both donot know where to contruct their BHQ's? I can understand if an earthquake took place but this seems sheer stupidity.

 

[VCheng]

We all should be prepared for the worst.

 

[A1Kaid]

What triggered this avalanche has to be investigated. No earthquake has been detected or tremor has been detected as far as reports indicate.

The hand of foul play should not be ruled out. Pakistan has to determine whether natural or artificial causes are responsible for this.

 

[Safriz]

Its not snow but hard solid ice covering the incident site which means glacier moved example:- in north pole glaciers move with the pressure inside their surfaces and slide in to the ocean, same thing might have happened there.
They have to cut ice, which needs heavy machinery or source of heat to make wholes to reach down (like use of laser etc)

Glaciers creep..They don't come crashing down..Avalanches crash into the glaciers and thats how glaciers accumulate ice over Milena..
Here is the camp on Gmaps (Thanks SpaRk)

If you zoom out you can see that although the Camp is at the bottom of the glacier..There is enough distance between the camp and the Glacier to keep away normal avalanches....
Its rare to see a Glacier crashing down and then covering such incredible distance to engulf settlements/Buildings...
On the north of the camp we can see Bilafono Glacier,and a village at the bottom..That village must be there since time began?
Hard luck of our soldiers i say.

 

[raavan]

What triggered this avalanche has to be investigated. No earthquake has been detected or tremor has been detected as far as reports indicate.

The hand of foul play should not be ruled out. Pakistan has to determine whether natural or artificial causes are responsible for this.

Pakistan is not in a state of war with anyone....so PLZ grow up and stop watch zaid hamid

 

[VCheng]

What triggered this avalanche has to be investigated. No earthquake has been detected or tremor has been detected as far as reports indicate.

The hand of foul play should not be ruled out. Pakistan has to determine whether natural or artificial causes are responsible for this.

It was only a matter of time before some one raised that conspiracy theory: it is now only a short jump to mentioning that top secret US program whose name sounds like a musical instrument.

Oh please.

 

[A1Kaid]

It was only a matter of time before some one raised that conspiracy theory: it is now only a short jump to mentioning that top secret US program whose name sounds like a musical instrument.

Oh please.

All possibilities must be looked into whether natural or artificial, the fact that you wish to cancel one of the two possibilities before a thorough investigation is conducted shows your lack of interest in the truth.

In the military it also shows your lack of ability to command and strategic acumen. Never rule out viable possibilities, must remain clear headed, you allow your bias to cloud your judgment.

 

[Always Neutral]

Pakistan is not in a state of war with anyone....so PLZ grow up and stop watch zaid hamid

Whats wrong in ruling out all possibilities?