Five Indian Army soldiers missing after avalanche hits Jammu and Kashmir's Gurez, Nowgam sector

At least five soldiers were missing after an avalanche, triggered by fresh snowfall, struck a forward post in Gurez sector in Bandipora district of Jammu and Kashmir, police said on Tuesday. [caption id=“attachment_4254477” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. News18[/caption] The avalanche hit an army post at Baktoor near the Line of Control in Gurez sector during the intervening night, a police official told PTI. He said at least three soldiers were reported missing after the avalanche. Meanwhile, two soldiers went missing in Kupwara district’s Nowgam sector on Monday evening, IANS repoted. “Efforts are on to trace the missing soldiers but continuous snowfall was hampering the rescue and search efforts,” he added. An army porter is missing since on Monday after he came under an avalanche in Tulail in Gurez sector. The Kashmir Valley was cut off from the rest of the country on Tuesday as flight operations at the Srinagar airport were suspended and the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway and Mughal road were closed for traffic due to snowfall and rain. The present weather conditions in Jammu and Kashmir are likely to continue till Thursday due to a western disturbance over the state, the meteorological (MeT) office said. The 300-kilometre long highway, the only all-weather road linking Kashmir with the rest of the country, was closed following heavy rains and snowfall at several places, including the Jawahar Tunnel, and incidents of shooting stones near Panthal. With inputs from agencies