SRINAGAR: The search operation to locate two missing soldiers in Jammu and Kashmir’s Anantnag district entered its third day on Thursday, with dense vegetation, rough terrain and persistent bad weather hampering rescue efforts, officials said, as reported by Daily Excelsior.
The missing personnel, both commandos from an elite Para unit, lost contact during a combing operation in the Kokernag area on Tuesday. The operation had been launched two days earlier in the Ahlan Gadole region after intelligence inputs suggested the presence of militants in the area, officials added.
According to reports, the soldiers went missing after their communication line failed. Helicopters were deployed for aerial reconnaissance, but poor visibility due to the harsh weather slowed the progress.
The Army’s Srinagar-based Chinar Corps said the operational team was caught in a severe snowstorm in the mountains of South Kashmir on the intervening night of October 6 and 7.
“An operational team on the Kishtwar range confronted a severe snowstorm and whiteout conditions. Since then, two soldiers have gone out of communication,” the Corps said in a post on X.
“Intense search and rescue operations have been launched but are being hindered by the prevailing adverse weather conditions,” it added.
