Fayaz Bukhari
SRINAGAR, Jan 9: Heavy snowfall along the Line of Control (LoC) in North Kashmir’s Macchil sector has triggered avalanches and one of them this morning hit a forward Army post killing one Army jawan while another is missing.
Sources said that an avalanche hit Muthal, a forward post in Sonapendi Gali of Macchil sector near the Line of Control (LoC) in district Kupwara, and damaged a portion of the post and buried two Army jawans under the snow.
The rescue operation was launched immediately by the Army and one of the jawans, Sepoy T Sanatam Singh of Manipur, was rescued but he later died. The operation to rescue the other jawan is going on but the heavy snowfall in the area is hampering the rescue operation.
The Macchil sector of North Kashmir has been experiencing heavy snowfall since yesterday morning and so far around 4 feet snow has accumulated during past 30 hours. Reports said that the total snow depth in the area is over 12 feet and fresh snowfall has triggered avalanches in the area and one which hit the arm post.
The fresh overnight snowfall has disrupted the traffic on Jammu-Srinagar National Highway as it was closed for fresh traffic today.
Reports reaching here said that Kupwara received 8 inches, Srinagar 2 inches, Gulmarg 1.5 feet, Pahalgam six inches and Jawahar Tunnel around 2.6 feet of snowfall since yesterday.
The Inspector General of Police, Traffic, Muneer Ahmad Khan told Excelsior that today no fresh traffic was allowed to ply on the highway due to fresh snowfall. He, however, said that around 500 load carriers and Light Mortar Vehicles that were stranded between Udhampur and Banihal were cleared today.
The IGP said that if there is no fresh snowfall and weather permits, traffic from Jammu will be allowed to ply towards Srinagar on the Highway tomorrow. He, however, said that there is forecast of snowfall and final decision on the movement of traffic on the highway will be taken tomorrow.
The BRO’s Project Beacon that is responsible for snow clearance from the National Highway today pressed its men and machinery into service early in the morning and cleared around 2.5 feet of snow from Jawahar Tunnel area.
Chief Engineer Project Beacon, Brigadier R K Sharma said: “Our strategy was to increase the number of attack points in the Banihal sector so that the road clearance could be achieved within shortest possible time. We achieved great success this year as our men cleared the road of snow and other blockades making it operational for the plying of traffic. We had six feet of snowfall this year in Jawahar Tunnel area and our men managed to re-open the highway at faster pace than previous years.”
“Today when we had around 2.5 feet of fresh snowfall in the Banihal sector, we cleared the highway in the morning and Srinagar bound stranded vehicles were cleared”, he added.
Sharma said that this year “we have minimized the loss of life on the highway as very minor accidents were reported on the highway during the heavy snowfall.”
In the meantime, there has been no respite from the intense cold in Kashmir division as the temperatures continue to be sub-zero.
Leh was the coldest place in the State recording a low of minus 11.0 degree Celsius compared to yesterday’s minus 12.4 degree Celsius while maximum day temperature of the place settled at minus 1.3 degree Celsius.
Kargil was the second coldest place that recorded a minimum of minus 9.2 degree Celsius against minus 12.1 degree Celsius the previous night while maximum day temperature of the place settled at minus 6.8 degree Celsius.
Srinagar recorded a low of minus 1.9 degree Celsius as against yesterday’s low of minus 1.7 degree Celsius while maximum day temperature of the place settled at 4.2 degree Celsius.
Gulmarg was one of the coldest recorded places in the Valley with a low of minus 7.0 degree Celsius. The hill resort has recorded a minimum of minus 9.4 degree Celsius yesterday while maximum day temperature of place settled at minus 0.5 degree Celsius.
Pahalgam recorded a low of minus 5.8 degree Celsius against yesterday’s low of minus 6.2 degree Celsius while maximum day temperature settled at 4 degree Celsius.
Kupwara in North Kashmir was freezing at minus 2.0 degree Celsius compared to yesterday’s minus 1.3 degree Celsius while maximum day temperature of the place settled at 8.2 degree Celsius.
Kokernag in South Kashmir settled at minus 4.5 degree Celsius while maximum day temperature settled at 0.1 degree Celsius.
Qazigund settled at minus 4.5 degree Celsius while maximum day temperature was recorded at minus 4 degree Celsius.
Winter capital of the State, Jammu recorded maximum temperature of 16.4 degree Celsius and minimum settled at 7.7 degree Celsius.
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