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Siachen tragedy: Swiss, German teams arriving tonight


RAWALPINDI: Rescue teams of Switzerland and Germany are arriving tonight to take part in efforts to recover trapped men in Siachen, Geo News reported.

A statement issued by the ISPR said: "An expert team comprising three individuals from Switzerland is arriving tonight to assist in rescue operations. Another disaster management team comprising six individuals along with necessary equipment from Germany will also arrive Islamabad tonight".

Bad weather on Monday hampered efforts to boost the search for 135 people buried in an avalanche Siachen, as a US team of high altitude specialists arrived in the country to help.

It has been over two days since a huge wall of snow crashed into the remote Siachen Glacier base high in the mountains of Himalaya, and experts say there is little hope of finding survivors, though no bodies have been recovered yet.

Specially trained search-and-rescue teams of army engineers equipped with locating gadgets and heavy machinery on Sunday joined rescue units aided by sniffer dogs and helicopters.

But a senior military official said attempts to send extra equipment up to help with the search on Monday had been delayed.

"We had planned to transport some heavy machinery from Rawalpindi to Siachen but could not do so because of bad weather," the official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

"We had arranged a C-130 cargo plane to lift some machinery up to the area, but bad weather did not allow the flight."

The camp was engulfed between 5:00 am and 6:00 am on Saturday by a mass of snow, stones, mud and slush more than 1,000 metres (3,300 feet) wide and 25 metres high, according to the military.


Courtesy www.geo.tv

 

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