Leh avalanche toll rises to 8, two still missing

Jammu, January 23

The toll in the Leh avalanche rose to eight after the rescue teams retrieved one more body on the fifth day of the search operation on Tuesday evening. 

The rescue and search operation was, however, called off on Wednesday due to bad weather, poor visibility and fresh snowfall at Khardung La, where a massive snow avalanche had hit two trucks carrying 10 labourers on January 18. 

The teams of the Army, Border Roads Organisation, State Disaster Response Force, civil defence and the police have been conducting searches at Khardung La, 38 km from Leh town in Ladakh, to retrieve the bodies of the missing labourers. Two labourers are still missing in the area.

"We have recovered the body of one more person from the area during the search operation, taking the toll to eight. All teams went to Khardung La on Wednesday morning but they could not carry out searches due to bad weather, poor visibility and fresh snowfall in the area. The teams returned and are waiting for the weather to improve," said Sonam Dorjey, DSP (District Armed Reserve), Leh. — TNS