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Five Soldiers Missing in Kupwara After Road Caves In Near Army Camp

Army soldiers at rescue work in Gurez sector where an incident of severe avalanche took place recently. (File Image: PTI)

Srinagar: Five soldiers are reported to be missing after a road leading to an army camp in Kupwara district of Macchil sector in Jammu & Kashmir caved in, on Saturday, police said.

“The snow track leading to an army post caved in at Macchil this morning, resulting in five soldiers getting trapped under the snow,” officials said.

They said rescue operations have been launched to save the soldiers.

As many as 21 persons, including 15 army men, have been killed since Wednesday due to avalanches and snowfall-related incidents in Kashmir Valley.

Authorities have issued a high danger avalanche warning in hilly parts of snow-bound Kashmir Valley in view of fresh snowfall.

Search and rescue operations are underway to locate the missing men.

Earlier, at least eleven soldiers were killed in the avalanches that hit Gurez Sector of Kashmir while the Valley remained cut off from the rest of the country due to heavy snowfall.

On Wednesday, an officer was killed following an avalanche at Sonamarg in central Kashmir’s Ganderbal district while four members of a family died in another avalanche in Gurez sector.

Meanwhile, most parts of Kashmir Division, including Ladakh, continued to reel under sub-zero temperatures with Leh being the coldest recorded place. The minimum temperature in Leh was minus 3.6 degree Celsius.

(With PTI inputs)