Avalanche traps about 150 Pakistani soldiers

[Capt.Popeye]

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.

Do you mean trumpets? Like the trumpets of Jericho? :-(

 

[American Pakistani]

Old group Photo.

 

[Edevelop]

US sends team to help Pakistan search for 135 people buried in massive avalanche - The Washington Post

 

[VCheng]

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.

Actually, I am formally trained to evaluate all possibilities and have much experience in doing so.

Do you mean trumpets? Like the trumpets of Jericho? :-(

It begins with H and ends in RP and has a couple of similar vowels in between - a favorite of the conspiracy theorists.

This avalanche is a natural disaster, and the heavy loss of life is regrettable indeed.

 

[Last Hope]

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.

Omar.

It is least likely to be artificial, they are well-aware of our reaction in case of any foul play.
But if we are so determined to blame India for the possible deaths, then there is a smooth way of doing it.

If it weren't for India to send it's troops in Pakistani land and take over a mountain which is declared to be owned by Pakistan, then no lives or resources would have been lost and yes that is thousands of soldiers and millions of dollars! Some members are asking for demilitarization of the glacier, which was first militarized and attracted to deadly war by their own army.

 

[Safriz]

any updates on rescue operation???

 

[VCheng]

The number of rescuers is now at least 240 military and civilians.

 

[Safriz]

Please keep this thread only for updates and discussions specific to rescue operation...Leave the politics for other threads...There are plenty of threads where you can raise the political issues.

 

[ptldM3]

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

Doubtful, even if there were there would be no way that the pockets of air could sustain life for that long. Unfortunately most soldiers suffocated. If someone is not immediately pulled out from an avalanche it turns into a recovery effort very quickly, and not a rescue effort.

 

[VelocuR]

Siachen tragedy: Amidst fading hopes, rescuers search for survivors

Gen Kayani visits the site of the avalanche with other military officials.

ISLAMABAD: With no sign of survivors nearly 36 hours after an avalanche smashed into a Pakistan Army camp near the Siachen Glacier, the military hoped for a ‘miracle’ on Sunday as rescuers searched for the 124 soldiers and 11 civilians buried beneath a blanket of snow.

Chief of Army Staff Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani visited the Giari area where the avalanche struck on Saturday to supervise the rescue operation launched by the army’s Engineering Corps to recover the victims, who belong to the 6 Northern Light Infantry Battalion.

“The avalanche of such a magnitude was unprecedented in the last 20 years of this Battalion Headquarters’ existence at Giari,” said Gen Kayani.

“I have directed the concerned departments of Pakistan Army to immediately mobilise all available resources with the assistance of Pakistan Air Force to carry out a full-scale rescue operation.”

According to the army, 240 troops and civilians participated in the rescue operation on Sunday with the aid of sniffer dogs and heavy machinery, some of which was flown in on military aircraft.

Rescuers dug through snow, boulders and slush in a desperate search for the 135 people buried under the snow more than 1,000 metres wide and 25 metres high – as hopes faded of finding any survivors.

“Let’s hope for a miracle,” a military official, who asked to remain anonymous, told Reuters. Another military official, also speaking off the record, said that there were reports that some of the trapped soldiers are still alive.

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

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

Apart from bulldozers and excavators, chemicals were being used to melt the ice. But due to harsh weather and great height, the rescue work is slow. The victims are trapped in one of the most unforgiving environments on the earth, at an altitude of 15,000 feet in the Karakoram mountain range.

Gen Kayani appreciated the morale and efforts of the troops who were braving harsh weather conditions and inhospitable terrain and directed the commanders to leave ‘no stone unturned’ to reach out to the trapped troops.

He said that the calamity, in no way, should affect the morale of the troops defending their homeland at the world’s highest battlefield.

Reactions

An eight-member team of US experts, meanwhile, arrived in Rawalpindi on Sunday to provide technical assistance in the rescue operation.

According to a military statement, discussion will be held with the US team to find out the possibility and nature of assistance required to expedite the rescue operation. Offer of technical assistance from other friendly countries is also being considered.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh also offered to provide assistance to Pakistan, The Hindustan Times reported. Singh made the offer during his meeting with President Asif Ali Zardari.

In response, Zardari appreciated India’s offer and said he would seek assistance if needed, the report added.

(WITH ADDITIONAL INPUT FROM AFP AND REUTERS)

Published in The Express Tribune, April 9th, 2012.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=hnpJBhSYeiU#!

 

[AZADPAKISTAN2009]

Doubtful, even if there were there would be no way that the pockets of air could sustain life for that long. Unfortunately most soldiers suffocated. If someone is not immediately pulled out from an avalanche it turns into a recovery effort very quickly, and not a rescue effort.

There is small possibility that there may be some survivors in the building and they may also have accesses to oxygen cylinders
and there should be food available as they were inside the shelter

The main thing is knowing the proximate location of the shelter building , we should have been able to already dig to reach the building structures

Lack of Heavy Lift Helicopters probbly prevents us form moving cranes or bulldozers the region ...

Personally I am disgusted with lack of coverage LIVE Coverage of rescue efforts

 

[Patriot]

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.

This headquarter has been there for last 20 years so obviously it was a safe place from Army Point of View -It's not like Army deliberately built it in path of avalanche.

 

[ejaz007]

Pakistani Army Races to Reach Avalanche-Buried Soldiers


ISLAMABAD — The Pakistan Army has raced to rescue any survivors of a huge avalanche which it says has buried more than 100 soldiers at a base in Pakistani-administered Kashmir

The avalanche took place at 6:00 a.m. local time April 4. The base, situated in the Gayari district, is near the Siachen Glacier in the Karakorum mountains separating Pakistan from China. Avalanches do occur in the region and regularly claim lives. However, this latest avalanche is unprecedented both in scale and location.

Avalanches normally occur near forward posts inhabited by far fewer troops and have killed a great many over the years. The rescue effort is underway but is hampered by difficult conditions.

Brian Cloughley, an analyst and former Australian defense attaché to Islamabad, is familiar with some of the conditions found in the region.

“Life is harsh at these altitudes, and rescue operations will experience difficulties we can only imagine,” he said.

The rescuers will face considerable challenges not only from the weather, but altitude-related fatigue and danger of further avalanches, Cloughey said.

“Use of helicopters creates reverberating noise, which could trigger another slide, yet it is essential they be employed to move rescue teams around and get any survivors out of the area quickly,” he said. “That’s a very difficult decision, but I think we can rely on the commanders on the ground to decide what is best for their soldiers.”

The Pakistani Army relies on the Mi-17 ‘Hip’ for most of its high altitude operations. At higher elevations, the Army employs the AS350 Ecureuil/Squirrel, and Eurocopter AS355 Ecureuil 2, which have taken over from the venerable SA 315B Lama.

Speed is of the essence, Cloughey said, but will be tempered by the effects high altitude has on the human body.

“The main thing is to get people digging down, because there could well be some people trapped in pockets of air, but that is much easier said than done,” he said.

“Where do you start? And you just can’t whip in reinforcements, because they won’t be acclimatized, so all the work has got to be done by those already in position — and it is extremely tiring to undertake physical labor at that height.”

The trapped soldiers are from the Northern Light Infantry, which played a prominent part in the 1999 fighting that raged between Indian and Pakistani forces around the Line of Control bisecting Kashmir between Pakistan and India near the town of Kargil.

The Siachen Glacier is the location of the world’s highest battlefield. Pakistani and Indian troops have faced-off and occasionally clashed at altitudes as high as 22,000 feet since Indian troops occupied the heights overlooking the glacier in 1984.

Pakistani Army Races to Reach Avalanche-Buried Soldiers | Defense News | defensenews.com

 

[Pak47]

The American team is there.. lets see what they can contribute

US team arrives to search trapped troops - thenews.com.pk

 

[Karachiite]

Its a really sad incident. May the dead Rest in peace and the remaining survive.