Army to pay homage to soldiers killed in Siachen avalanche

The Indian Army will pay homage on Wednesday to the four soldiers who were killed in an avalanche in Siachen before handing over their bodies to their families.

"The Army personnel killed in the Siachen avalanche include Sep Manish Kumar, Veerpal Singh, Dimpal Kumar and Maninder Singh. Their bodies would be flown out of Ladakh tomorrow in an Air Force aircraft after the local units pay respect to them," Army officials said.

The four soldiers include three from Punjab regiment while one belongs to the Dogra regiment of the Army. While the three personnel of Punjab regiment are residents of Punjab, the soldier belonging to Dogra regiment hails from Solan, Himachal Pradesh.

Apart from the four soldiers, two porters were also killed in the avalanche that hit the northern glacier on Monday.

More than 860 Indian soldiers have died in Siachen since 1984 due to climatic conditions, environmental and other factors.

One of the biggest such incidents occurred about three years ago in Siachen when around 200 troops lost their lives in a massive avalanche. Around six days after the disaster, Lance Naik Hanumanthappa was recovered from under the snow and had survived for some days.