Kinnaur: Rescue operations have been going on to find five Army jawans who are feared buried under thick snow after an Avalanche hit an Army patrol that was deployed along the India-China border in Shipki La, in Kinnaur district.
 
More than 250 soldiers of the Army and paramilitary forces have recovered one dead body and are looking for the others. 

The sliding glacier hit the Army patrol at around 11 am on Wednesday. 

Shiv Mohan Singh Saini, SDM of Pooh sub-division, according to reports, said that soldiers were patrolling at Namgia Dogri near Shipki La, when an avalanche happened. 

The deceased, identified as Rakesh Kumar succumbed to his injuries on the way to the hospital. Luckily, the others were rescued. 

Kumar (41) hailed from Ghumarpur village in Bilaspur district of Himachal Pradesh, Kinnaur and belonged to the 7 JAK Rifles unit of the Army.

According to reports, an Army spokesperson said the search-and-rescue operation would go on till they manage to retrieve the last man. The temperature there is around 15 degrees below zero. 

Indian Armed Forces have been carrying out successful rescue operations for the past few months. 

Earlier this month, The Indian Air Force (IAF) rescued as many as 538 people, including 319 GATE aspirants after they got stuck in the twin capital cities of Jammu and Srinagar due to the closure of Jammu-Srinagar national highway which was prompted by heavy snowfall in the area. 

Also the authorities carried out an intensified rescue mission earlier this month to rescue the 10 policemen who got trapped inside their post under a snow avalanche which struck near Jawahar Tunnel on the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway.