Avalanche hits Army post at LoC; three jawans missing, search on

Srinagar: In a tragic incident, three soldiers belonging to the Army went missing after an avalanche hit their post on the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir's Bandipora district on Tuesday.

The avalanche, triggered by fresh snowfall, struck a forward post in Gurez sector in Bandipora district. 

"Three army jawans reportedly went missing at Mani Post Bagtoor Gurez reportedly due to an avalanche," a police officer was quoted as saying.

Search and rescue operation has been launched by the Army to trace the missing jawans.

"Efforts are on to trace the missing soldiers but continuous snowfall was hampering the rescue and search efforts," the officer added.

More than five feet deep snow had accumulated on the ground on the LoC in Gurez sector due to the heavy snowfall that started on Monday evening and was still continuing on Tuesday morning.

Meanwhile, an Army porter is also missing since yesterday after he came under an avalanche in Tulail in Gurez sector.