Porter falls in crevasse in Siachen, body found

Jammu/New Delhi: The army on Wednesday recovered the body of a porter who died after slipping into a 200-feet-deep crevasse in Jammu and Kashmir's Siachen Glacier.

Colonel S.D. Goswami, spokesman of the army's Udhampur-headquartered Northern Command told IANS in Jammu: "After a massive rescue effort, the army today (Wednesday) recovered the body of a porter who had fallen into a 200-feet-deep crevasse in Siachen's Northern Glacier."

"The porter accidentally fell into the crevasse on February 27. Rescue operations by specialised army teams were launched immediately and had continued unabated.

"Rescue teams progressively descended to depths of 60 feet, 90 feet and cut through the frozen snow and ice to finally reach 130 feet deep where they located the porter's body."

It comes days after 10 soldiers were buried under nearly 30 feet of ice and snow when an avalanche hit the Indian Army's Sonam post -- at an altitude of around 20,000 feet -- on the Siachen glacier on February 3,

One of them, Lance Naik Hanamanthapa Koppad, was found alive after he remained trapped under the snow for about six days. He succumbed to multi-organ failure on February 11 at the Army Hospital (Research and Referral) in New Delhi.