Three soldiers killed, one injured after avalanche hits army post at Jammu and Kashmir's Machil sector

Three soldiers were reportedly killed and one injured after an avalanche hit an army post in Machil sector in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kupwara district on Friday, according to media reports.

#FLASH J&K: Three Army personnel lost their lives, 1 injured, after an avalanche hit an Army post in Kupwara's Machil Sector. pic.twitter.com/S0MFh2rolk

— ANI (@ANI) February 2, 2018

The avalanche hit an army post of 21 Rajput at Sona Pandi Gali in Machil at around 4:30 pm, NDTV  reported.

“In an unfortunate incident of avalanche in Machhil sector, the army lost three valiant soldiers,” PTI quoted an army official.

The bodies of the soldiers have been recovered, the official said.

A similar incident had happened in December  when five soldiers went missing in two separate avalanches triggered by fresh snowfall.

While two soldiers had slipped down a mountain slope in Nawgam sector of Kupwara district, three others went missing from a forward post in Kanzalwan sub-sector of Gurez in Bandipora district during heavy snowfall on Tuesday.

On 5 January , ten people were killed and two others were injured after a snow avalanche hit two vehicles. The incident occurred at Khooni Nallah near Sadhna Top on the Kupwara-Tangdhar road.

The government had announced an ex-gratia relief of Rs 4 lakh each to the next of kin, and  Rs 12,600 for the injured.

With inputs from agencies