At least 17 people have been killed and several others injured in 5 separate incidents of snow avalanches in Jammu and Kashmir.
Braving snow storms the J&K police, CRPF and Rashtriya Rifles in a daring act rescued 34 people including ladies and children trapped under a snow avalanche at Gulab Bagh, Qazigund.
The rescue teams had to break the windows and doors of houses where these 34 were buried under snow.
The accompanying rescue teams revived the unconscious persons who were earlier deemed to have died.
However, one person later died and two are still in critical condition.
530 stranded civilians and army personnel airlifted in J-K
About 530 civilians and army personnel stranded in Jammu following closure of Jammu and Kashmir national highway due to heavy snowfall were airlifted by the Air Force to Srinagar from Udhampur and Jammu on Saturday.
Under operation ‘Humsafar’, about 150 stranded civilians and 300 army personnel were airlifted to Srinagar from Jammu on Saturday morning in an IAF plane, they said adding all the passengers have landed safely at Srinagar.
Deputy Commissioner Jammu, Hirdesh Kumar Singh said that as the national highway continues to remain blocked even on Saturday, arrangements are being made to ferry stranded civilians by air on rotational.
Adequate measures have also been made at Jammu for the convenience of stranded passengers, he added.
Reports from Udhampur district said that about 80 passengers, who were stranded from last five days following heavy snowfall and landslides, were airlifted by the IAF.
Wing Commander Pawan Sharma, who was coordinating the operation at Udhampur, said that Air Force personnel are trained for such work.
