NEW DELHI: It is not just the belligerent adversary, the extreme cold, those crazy heights or the rarefied and oxygen-depleted air where the mind begins to play tricks. It can be the treacherous and winding drives on the edges of rocky cliffs too where one small lapse can be a disaster.
On Friday morning, the road to Siachen once again underlined its dangerous reputation when a vehicle hired under the Civilian Hired Transport (CHT) provision carrying 26 soldiers fell off the road into the Shyok river which at this time of the year becomes a fast-flowing one due to snowmelt in the upper reaches.
ETV Bharat has come to know that the soldiers in the ill-fated bus were from the Maratha Regiment (the unit number is being withheld) comprising four junior commissioned officers and 22 jawans and were being newly inducted into what is called the world’s highest battlefield at Siachen.
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While seven soldiers died due to injuries, the 19 had been airlifted and hospitalized at the base hospital at Chandimandir. Two more succumbed to the injuries later. A Court of Inquiry has been ordered to look into the tragedy. The party was traveling at about 12,000 feet from the army transit camp in Partapur to a forward location in Sub Sector Hanif located in the Siachen.
This is a particularly treacherous stretch with the Shyok river way beneath on one side and a cliff wall on the other side. According to Army sources, the incident took place at about 9 AM in the morning when the vehicle was about 25 km from Thoise, a military outpost with an airfield, and fell about 50-60 feet into the Shyok river.
A serving military official told ETV Bharat on condition of not being identified: “On the way from Leh to the upper reaches up north towards the border areas, one can routinely see badly crashed vehicles lying abandoned far below the craggy roads. They are very difficult to recover or not worth the effort. It highlights the extremely risky and hazardous conditions the Indian Army operates in.”
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“Even the roads laid are not totally safe because of the intrinsic instability of the soil underneath and cave-ins are normal.” The Army said in a statement: “There are grievous injuries to others as well. Dedicated efforts are underway to ensure that the best medical care is provided to the injured.”
