Seven Indian Army Personnel On China Border Patrol in Arunachal Feared Buried Under Avalanche

Avalanches and landslides are common across the Line of Actual Control that divides India from China. Temperatures can drop to as low as minus 60 degrees Celsius during the winter.

Seven Indian Army personnel are reported to have been buried by an avalanche near the deltoid junction of China and Bhutan in Arunachal Pradesh.

The Indian Army said on Monday that the incident took place at an altitude of 14,500ft at the Kameng Sector in Arunachal Pradesh on Sunday.

"Search and rescue operations are at present underway. Specialised teams have been airlifted to assist in rescue operations," Lt Col Harsh Wardhan Pande, the Indian Army's spokesman in Tezpur, said on Monday.

Pande added that over the past few days, the weather in the area has been horrible and there has been heavy snowfall.

According to estimates, more than 35,000 troops are deployed at great altitudes across the eastern and northern commands of the Indian Army.

More than 100 Indian security personnel have been killed in snow avalanches in the Himalayan region since 2017.

The Indian government has taken several steps to minimise army casualties from avalanches in the Himalayan region, including procuring rescue vehicles and setting up a dedicated lab to warn troops in real time.

The state-owned Defence Geo-Informatics Research Establishment has set up 39 observatories in Jammu & Kashmir, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Sikkim. Another 10 weather stations will be established soon.