Kargil soldier, found buried in 15 ft snow, was sole breadwinner of family

Srinagar: Soldier Vijayakumar, buried in snow after an avalanche, was the sole breadwinner of his family at Vallavaramapuram, a remote village near Sankarankovil in Tirunelveli district. The 25-year-old soldier was survived by his father Karuthapandi Thevar, a small farmer, and joined the Indian Army in 2014 and was posted to Kargil sector just 6 months ago. On Saturday afternoon, Karuthapandi received a message from the Army camp that his son was missing after an avalanche and within 24 hours the family was officially informed of the death of Vijayakumar.

Vijayakumar’s mother, Nuthukutty and his two sisters — Rajeswari, a nursing student and Sumathi, studying standard 12, were speechless on hearing the news of the death of their brother who had spent most of his money on the education of his two sisters.

The Army rescue teams on Sunday recovered Vijayakumar’s body, who had gone missing following an avalanche in frontier Kargil district of Jammu and Kashmir earlier this week.

“On the third day of a gruelling search operation, rescue teams of the Army managed to recover the mortal remains of Sepoy Vijay Kumar K. from under twelve feet of snow,” defence spokesman Lt. Col. N.N. Joshi said. He added that the search operation continued for three days despite adverse weather conditions and up to 15 feet of snow accumulated in the area of avalanche occurrence. Avalanche rescue dogs, deep penetration radars and metal detectors were also pressed into service in the rescue operation.

“The Army is in the process of evacuating his mortal remains from the area after which they will be moved to his native place where the cremation ceremony will take place with full military honours,” the defence spokesman said.

Lt. Gen. D.S. Hooda, Army Commander (Northern Command) has expressed his deep condolences to the family of Sepoy Kumar.

At 10.45 pm on March 17, an avalanche triggered by a mild earthquake hit an Army post at an altitude of 17,500 feet above sea level close to the Line of Control (LoC) in Kargil sector. Sepoy Kumar was along with another soldier Sujit on surveillance duty in the area. Both were swept away by the avalanche but Sepoy Surjit was rescued by a team of Army rescuers early next day.

Defence spokesman also confirmed that Sepoy Sujit is stable and recovering at a nearby hospital.

On February 3, nine Army soldiers, including a junior commissioned officer were buried alive when a huge wall of frost and snow crashed into the remote Siachen Glacier, smothering a vast area which also had an Army camp located on it in the southern side of the area at a height of 19,600 feet in eastern Ladakh. A tenth soldier Lance Naik Hanamanthappa Koppad, a resident of Betadur village in Dharwad district of Karnataka, was miraculously pulled out alive from an ‘arctic tent’ buried under 25 feet of frost and snow though in critical condition by the rescuers on February 8, six days after the incident. But he too died in Army’s Research and Referral Hospital three days later.

Meanwhile, J&K police has rescued eleven families of civilians in neighbouring Ganderbal district after landslides triggered by incessant rains in the area hit their houses on Sunday. Kashmir Valley with neighbouring areas is witnessing heavy rains and, at many places, snowfall and snowstorms for the past few days causing flash floods in some parts of the region.

A police statement issued here on Sunday said that a retaining wall at village Rangil in Ganderbal district collapsed, damaging two nearby residential houses. In another incident a major landslide hit half a dozen houses in village Wanyarm Wangth of the same district. The police rescuers evacuated eleven families from these areas to safer locations, it said.

The authorities have issued avalanche and mudslide warnings for several places in the districts of Doda, Kishtwar, Ramban, Kupwara, Baramulla, Bandipore, Kargil, Anantnag, Shopian and Kulgam of the state. People have been advised to remain indoors in avalanche prone areas of the districts where as school in some parts of the State have been closed till further orders as a precautionary measure, officials said. The vital Srinagar-Jammu highway remained closed for the fourth day on Sunday, disrupting supplies of essentials including petroleum products to the Valley. Also, dozens of passenger vehicles and trucks have been stranded en route. The Srinagar-Kargil highway is also closed due to hostile weather conditions.