Source: Hueiyen News Service
Imphal, February 10, 2010:
One soldier from Manipur was among those 17 army personnel killed in the avalanche at Gulmarg in North Kashmir on Monday.
The deceased soldier has been identified as Thangsuan Lal from Churachandpur.
He was a Sepoy of 2 Assam Regiment.
His mortal remains would be brought home by IC 213 flight from Kolkata tomorrow.
The body would be received at Imphal airport by officers and personnel of Army at 11.30 am.
Troops will take the soldier's body from the airport to his hometown where the last rites would be performed with full honours.
Meanwhile, an agency report from Delhi says that bodies of 17 army personnel, including an officer, killed in an avalanche at Khilanmarg in North Kashmir on Monday were flown to their home towns by two special flights today.
The bodies of the personnel were brought to Srinagar late last evening, Defence Spokesman Colonel JS Brar said.
He said, four of the personnel belonged to Jammu and four to Punjab.
Nine bodies were flown to Delhi where from they would be flown to Rajasthan, Manipur, Nepal, Indore and Ranchi.
A massive avalanche had slammed the popular ski resort of Gulmarg on Monday, killing 17 soldiers and injuring an equal number when the tragedy struck troops during winter warfare training on steep slopes at Khilanmarg, 70 km from Srinagar.
The avalanche came hurtling down on the 60-strong combat team as they were scaling the icy walls of high-altitude Khilanmarg peak in near zero visibility.
The condition of 17 injured soldiers was stable, Brar said.
The high altitude areas of the valley have been lashed by heavy snowfall since February 5 while the plains including Srinagar have been lashed by incessant rains and snow.