Mortal remains of soldier hit by avalanche in Siachen consigned to flames

Sepoy Parghat Singh, a native of Punjab's Gurdaspur district who was hit by an avalanche in Siachen last month, died at the Chandigarh Command Hospital on Sunday. His mortal remains were consigned to flames with full military honours at his native village Daburji.

Gurdaspur (Punjab): The mortal remains of Sepoy Pargat Singh were consigned to flames with full military honours at his native village Daburji here in Gurdaspur district on Sunday.

Cabinet minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa laid a wreath on the soldier's body on behalf of the Punjab government, said an official statement here.

Pargat Singh, who was hit by an avalanche in Siachen last month, died at the Chandigarh Command Hospital on Saturday.

Two other jawans, Sepoy Amardeep Singh from Barnala's Karamgarh village and Sepoy Prabhjit Singh from Hakamwala in Mansa, were killed in the avalanche on April 25.

All three of them were part of the 21 Punjab regiment of the Indian Army.

Pargat was evacuated to Chandigarh on April 27. He died of hypothermia and acute kidney injury.

Chief Minister Amarinder Singh had on Saturday announced an ex-gratia compensation of Rs 50 lakh for Pargat's family along with a government job for a member.

(With inputs from PTI)