Avalanche Buries Over 100 Troops At Army Base - Pakistan

[dipsydoodle]

Source: Yahoo News

An avalanche has buried more than 100 soldiers at a Pakistani army base on the border with India.

The incident took place on the remote Siachen Glacier in the Himalayas in Pakistan's north.

Army spokesman Major General Athar Abbas said rescue teams have headed to the region.

Helicopters and sniffer dogs have also been deployed to help rescue those trapped.

Read more: http://uk.news.yahoo.com/avalanche-buries-dozens-troops-army-hq-062149790.html

---

Avalanche traps over 100 Pakistani soldiers - army.

Siachen is in the northern part of Kashmir. Muslim-majority Kashmir is at the heart of hostilities between India and Pakistan and was the cause of two of their three wars since independence from Britain in 1947.

Indian and Pakistani forces, estimated to number between 10,000 and 20,000 troops combined, have faced off against each other in mountains above the Siachen glacier in the Karakoram range since 1984.

The no-man's-land of Siachen is 20,000 feet (6,000 metres) above sea level. Military experts say the inhospitable climate and avalanche-prone terrain have claimed more lives than gunfire.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/04/07/uk-pakistan-avalanche-idUKBRE83603R20120407

[polly7]

1. Terrible. :(

[jimlup]

2. Wow! That's high altitude

They are at 20k feet. That's almost as high as the highest peak in N. America. And it's a mile above the highest point in Colorado. That is going to be a tough rescue effort.

OK on more careful read the Avalanch is at 15k feet. Still high but not much more than the highest peaks in Colorado.

[saras]

3. That's gotta set a record as "stupidest place to have a war"

"Let's hole in some troops somewhere that the weather will kill more of them than the enemy, and keep them there for thirty years."
"Sounds like a plan.It works great for America."

[GreydeeThos]

4. A little global warming causing the Siachen Glacier to collapse? n/t

[dipsydoodle]

6. Not a glacier "collapse"

It was a gigantic snow avalanche.

I have no concept of a glacier "collapsing" and neither I suspect do you. - that is not the nature of glaciers.

[dipsydoodle]

5. Pakistan army hopes miracle will save avalanche victims

(Reuters) - Pakistan's military hoped for a miracle on Sunday as rescue teams searched for 124 soldiers and 11 civilians buried by a Himalayan avalanche near the Indian border, with no sign of survivors more 24 hours later.

The avalanche engulfed a Pakistani army battalion headquarters near a glacier early on Saturday, leaving snow up to 80 feet (25 metres) deep over an area a kilometre wide.

The victims are trapped in one of the most unforgiving environments on Earth, at an altitude of 15,000 feet (4,500 metres) near the Siachen Glacier in the Karakoram mountain range.

"Let's hope for a miracle," a military official, who asked to remain anonymous, told Reuters.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/04/08/uk-pakistan-avalanche-idUKBRE83603R20120408

Map of location here :

Pakistan resumes search for 135 buried by avalanche



http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-17643625