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Kinnaur avalanche: Bodies of remaining two Indian Army jawans retrieved

On the sixth day of the operation, officials had said that the chances of the survival of those trapped in the snow were slim.

Kinnaur avalanche: Bodies of remaining two Indian Army jawans retrieved

Rescue and search operations had been carried on relentlessly since the incident occurred. (Picture courtesy: ITBP)

The bodies of the two remaining Indian Army jawans, belonging to 7 JK Rifles, were retrieved on Thursday; 23 days after six members of an army unit were buried alive in an avalanche in Kinnaur, Himachal Pradesh on February 20.

The avalanche was triggered with the slide of a glacier near Shipkila at Namgia, Kinnaur. Bodies of the other four jawans have already been recovered.

With this, rescue operations have been concluded.

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Rescue and search operations had been carried on relentlessly since the incident occurred.

One of the trapped soldiers, Rakesh Kumar (41), was pulled out on the same day but he could not be saved and his body was airlifted to his native place Ghumarpur village in Bilaspur district.

On the sixth day of the operation, officials had said that the chances of the survival of those trapped in the snow were slim. They had further informed that a lot of snow had accumulated at the avalanche site, which is 350 km from the state capital.

The body of another jawan, Rajesh Rishi (25), was recovered on the morning of March 2 by the rescue and search team. Rishi belonged to Nalagarh in Solan district.

Two separate parties of the Army and ITBP were patrolling Namgia Dogri when the avalanche hit them. According to reports, the teams were repairing a water pipeline when the calamity occurred.

The army had said that the rescue operations would continue till the last jawan is retrieved.

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