Army teams sifted through the huge mass of ice in Siachen to look for the missing soldiers
SIACHEN: For six days, army soldier Hanamanthappa was buried under 25 feet of snow in temperatures close to minus 40 degrees.
Late on Monday night, a rescue team pulled him out and was astonished to feel a faint pulse.
After an avalanche at the Siachen Glacier on February 3, Lance Naik Hanamanthappa and nine other soldiers were buried deep beneath the snow. A wall of ice, a kilometer wide and 600 metres high, came crashing down on their post.
After some 300 sorties and an intensive search operation at a height of nearly 20,000 feet, where it is difficult to walk, let alone dig, the rescue team found bodies.
The army, which had all but given up on finding anyone, dead or alive, exulted in the miracle.
"It was a miraculous rescue, all efforts are being made to evacuate Lance Naik Hanamanthappa to hospital in the morning," army commander Lieutenant General DS Hooda was quoted by the Press Trust of India.
The soldier, said to be in a critical state, will be flown to Delhi. He is from Karnataka.
Five bodies have been found. "All other soldiers are regrettably no more with us," said the officer.
The rescue, involving heavy equipment, thermal imagers and dogs, became particularly challenging because the snow turned into ice. Rescue teams had to battle frequent blizzards and work through low visibility.
The 10 soldiers were at their base on the Saltoro ridge in Siachen, at a height of 19,600 feet, and close to the border with Pakistan when the avalanche struck.
The Siachen Glacier, located at the northern tip of Kashmir, is the highest and coldest battlefield in the world. Till date, more soldiers have died because of the weather and terrain than as a consequence of the Indo-Pak standoff. At least 869 officers and soldiers have been killed there since the mid-1980s.
Late on Monday night, a rescue team pulled him out and was astonished to feel a faint pulse.
After an avalanche at the Siachen Glacier on February 3, Lance Naik Hanamanthappa and nine other soldiers were buried deep beneath the snow. A wall of ice, a kilometer wide and 600 metres high, came crashing down on their post.
After some 300 sorties and an intensive search operation at a height of nearly 20,000 feet, where it is difficult to walk, let alone dig, the rescue team found bodies.
The army, which had all but given up on finding anyone, dead or alive, exulted in the miracle.
"It was a miraculous rescue, all efforts are being made to evacuate Lance Naik Hanamanthappa to hospital in the morning," army commander Lieutenant General DS Hooda was quoted by the Press Trust of India.
The soldier, said to be in a critical state, will be flown to Delhi. He is from Karnataka.
Five bodies have been found. "All other soldiers are regrettably no more with us," said the officer.
The rescue, involving heavy equipment, thermal imagers and dogs, became particularly challenging because the snow turned into ice. Rescue teams had to battle frequent blizzards and work through low visibility.
The 10 soldiers were at their base on the Saltoro ridge in Siachen, at a height of 19,600 feet, and close to the border with Pakistan when the avalanche struck.
The Siachen Glacier, located at the northern tip of Kashmir, is the highest and coldest battlefield in the world. Till date, more soldiers have died because of the weather and terrain than as a consequence of the Indo-Pak standoff. At least 869 officers and soldiers have been killed there since the mid-1980s.
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