Army rescues 30 from avalanche, searches continue for missing UP family in Ramban

Army and General Reserve Engineer Force (GREF) rescuing 30 stranded civilians who were stuck on the Kupwara-Tangdhar road on Tuesday. (UNI)
Army and General Reserve Engineer Force (GREF) rescuing 30 stranded civilians who were stuck on the Kupwara-Tangdhar road on Tuesday. (UNI)

MeT predicts rain, snowfall from Jan 22-25
Gopal Sharma
JAMMU, Jan 18: The Army rescued around 30 civilians after their vehicles came under an avalanche triggered by recent snowfall in border district of Kupwara in Kashmir and searches continued for three missing members of a family hailing from UP in Ramban sector on the second consecutive day today while IMD has predicted rain and snowfall from January 22 to 25 across J&K.
Entire Kashmir region today received light rains while higher reaches had overnight light to moderate snowfall as amid cloud cover, the night temperatures increased in Valley.
Official sources said that a vehicle carrying civilians got stuck on the Tangdhar-Chowkibal axis on Monday, following which the nearest Army unit was alerted and a rescue operation launched.
“The civilians, including a child, were evacuated to safety by the Army rescue team,” the officials said.
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One of the civilians told the rescuers that they had a narrow escape as they managed to jump out of the vehicle before it was buried under snow, the officials added.
They said the Army team also recovered the vehicle from the mounds of snow.
Another group of 16 civilians, who were stuck at some distance away on the same road, were also rescued by the Army personnel to Sadhna Pass, a Defence spokesman said.
He said the rescued persons were provided food, medical care and shelter for the night.
“Twelve vehicles were retrieved during the day today after the avalanche and snow slides clearance from the road. BRO GREF played a difficult but stellar role in snow clearance amidst dangerous conditions and entire operation took about six hours,” the spokesman said.
Meanwhile, Police parties along with local NGOs continued search operation along the rivulets and deep gorges along Jammu—Srinagar National Highway in Ramsu and Banihal areas in Ramban sector for the three missing tourists hailing from Lucknow in UP for the second consecutive day today.
SHO Ramsu, Nazir Ahmed said that police teams continued searches for retired IOC officer hailing from UP, his wife and son today also. Some local youth from NGO were also accompanying. Despite bad weather, operation continued but till this evening they could not be located. He said team from Banihal side was also on the job for the last two days.
Another report said that two passengers were injured when a shooting stone from a hillock hit a Tavera vehicle No. JK03A/4767 on Jammu-Srinagar National Highway today. The vehicle was on way to Jammu side from Kashmir. The injured were provided first aid at nearby health centre and then discharged. Three others including driver had narrow escape in the incident.
A Meteorological department official said that Srinagar received 0.2 mm rain in last 24 hours till 0830 hours today while it recorded a low of 1.1 degree Celsius against last night’s 1.0 degree Celsius.
Kashmir is presently under the grip of 40-day long harshest period of winter, known locally as ‘Chillai Kalan, which started from December 21. It is followed by a 20-day long ‘Chillai Khurd’ and a 10-day-long ‘Chillai Bachha’.
Gulmarg had about 4 cms of fresh snowfall during the time and recorded a low of minus 6.0 degree Celsius against minus 4.6 degree Celsius the previous night. The temperature was 1.7 degree Celsius above normal for this time of the year.
Pahalgam had 1.9 cms of fresh snowfall and recorded a low of minus 0.7 degree Celsius against minus 3.6 degree Celsius last night.
Qazigund received 0.6mm of rainfall and recorded a low of 0.2 degree Celsius against minus 1.0 degree Celsius the previous night.
Kokernag received 0.6mm of rainfall and recorded a low of minus 0.2 degree Celsius against minus 2.0 degree Celsius the previous night. Kupwara received 5.4cms of fresh snowfall while as it recorded a minimum of 0.2 degree Celsius against 0.5 degree Celsius the previous night.
Leh recorded a low of minus 11.0 degree Celsius against last night’s minus 13.1 degree Celsius while Kargil settled at minus 12.3 degree Celsius. Drass recorded a low of minus 16.1 degree Celsius against last night’s minus 16.2 degree Celsius.
For next 24 hours, the weatherman has forecast isolated very light rain or snow over Jammu and Kashmir with “mist/fog over the plains of Jammu division.”
“There will fairly widespread light to moderate rain/snow on January 19th besides rain and snowfall across the region from January 22 to 25,” the official said.
Cold wave and dense fog continued to grip mostly plain areas of Jammu region for the last two days. During morning hours, due to dense fog the visibility in Jammu was very poor and it affected smooth movement of vehicular and train traffic. The day temperature has also gone low in winter capital for the last couple of days due to dense fog as Sun is hardly visible during day time.