Four soldiers, civilian missing in Kashmir avalanche

Four soldiers, including a junior commissioned officer, and a civilian were trapped under an avalanche in Jammu and Kashmir's Kupwara district Saturday and were yet to be traced, an army official said.

"At approximately 8 a.m. today, an avalanche triggered at the higher reaches of Shamshabari Range resulted in one JCO, three jawans and one civilian porter getting trapped in the frontier district of Kupwara," said defence spokesman, Col. N.N. Joshi.

The soldiers were part of an army link patrol, operating in the areas south of Nasta Chun pass, he said.

"Army avalanche rescue teams located at the Nasta Chun Pass were immediately launched and commenced the search and rescue operation. Search was in progress till receipt of the last information," Col. Joshi added.