Army Major, 4 family members die in Kashmir avalanches

An Army Major and four members of a family were among six killed today in avalanches and other snow-related incidents in different parts of Kashmir, police said.
An avalanche hit an army camp at Sonamarg in central Kashmir's Ganderbal district this morning, resulting in the death of Major Amit Sagar of High Altitude Warfare School (HAWS), a police official said.
He said rescue operation was going on at the camp, housing the personnel of 115 battalion territorial army, to save the "rest of the persons".
An army official said one soldier had died after getting trapped under the avalanche.
In another avalanche incident, four members of a family died as their residential house was buried under snow in Gurez sector near Line of Control in north Kashmir's Bandipora district, the police spokesman said.

A snow avalanche struck at Badoogam village in Tulail area of Gurez in the wee hours today and buried the residential house of Habibullah Lone, a police official said.

He said the house collapsed under the debris of the avalanche resulting in death of 55-year-old Lone, his wife Azizi (50), 22-year-old son Irfan and daughter Gulshan (19).
Lone's another son, Reyaz Ahmad, was rescued by the authorities and admitted to a hospital for treatment, the official said.
In another incident, a police spokesman said one person was killed and another got injured when a house collapsed under the weight of snow at Kralpora in north Kashmir's Kupwara district.

Abdul Gani Ganaie was clearing snow from the roof top of a residential house belonging to his relative Abdul Jabbar Ganaie at Kralpora when the house got collapsed resulting in his on the spot death, he said, adding the house owner got injured in the incident and was hospitalised.
The spokesman said a residential house also got damaged when it came under a sliding boulder from a nearby hill at Pantha chowk in the outskirts of Srinagar.
However, no one was injured in the incident, he said.