| Avalanche hits Machil area, one dies, two sustain injuries | | |  S Tahir-ul Haq
Early Times Report
KUPWARA, Jan 30: A boy died while as two others sustained injured in an avalanche that struck the Machil area of this North Kashmir district on Saturday morning.
Sources said that the avalanche hit the Chuntiwari Balla area of Machil in the frontier district, resulting in on-spot death of a 15 year old boy. As the news spread in the area, a joint team of Army and police rushed to the spot and retrieved the body, sources said.
"The Army and locals launched a swift rescue operation in the aftermath of an avalanche in the higher reaches of Machil Tehsil and saved precious lives," said sources. Some of the locals informed Early Times that the injured boys were immediately taken to the nearby hospital of Machil area where from they were referred to Sub-district hospital Kupwara for further treatment. The incident occurred when the three "Darsgah students" were on their way towards Madrassa Taleem-ul-Quran in the area, said locals.
A senior police official said that, the Army's Avalanche Rescue Team immediately launched a rescue operation with rescue equipment including Avalanche Victim Detector with the help of which contact with the boys was established quickly.
"The rescue team found the boys, buried under 10 to 12 feet of snow, in a state of shock and physical exhaustion and administered them critical first aid at the site of incident. The rescue team was able to successfully evacuate Javed Ahmad Khan 16 years and Qaisar Ahmad Mir, 14 years, while as the third boy Mehraj-ud Din Khan of Chuntiwari Balla, Machil succumbed to his injuries," the official said.
It is pertinent to mention here that, on Friday evening Divisional Commissioner Kashmir had issued an avalanche warning in four districts of Kashmir division. The people were advised not to venture out in avalanche prone areas; however the warning was issued for 24 hours in avalanche prone areas in Kupwara, Baramulla, Bandipora and Ladakh districts.
The areas include Chokibal-Tangdhar, Keran, Gurez, Nawgam-Kalyan, Machil and Drass sector in Ladakh district. |
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