Bodies of 9 soldiers likely to be brought to Delhi tomorrow

New Delhi, February 14

The bodies of nine Siachen bravehearts, who were buried alive in an avalanche that struck their post on the world’s highest battlefield, are likely to be brought here tomorrow, if weather permits.

The weather at Khardung La remains extremely poor and all attempts to bring the mortal remains of the nine soldiers to Leh are being made, a senior Army official said.

If weather permits, the bodies will be brought to the National Capital not before tomorrow, he said.

A wreath-laying ceremony is expected to be held here.

“Plan to further move the mortal remains to Bangalore, Chennai, Trivandrum, Madurai, Pune, Hyderabad, is in place,” he said.

The mortal remains of nine soldiers were transported from Siachen Glacier to Siachen Base Camp in helicopters yesterday.

A Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) and nine other soldiers of Madras Regiment were buried under the avalanche on February 3.

While Lance Naik Hanamanthappa Koppad was miraculously dug out alive, the bodies of nine others were recovered on February 9.

One of those killed was Subedar Nagesha TT, a highly motivated and physically fit Junior Commissioned Officer.

The JCO had served 12 years in tough field areas out of his 22 years of service. During his illustrious career, he had taken part in ‘Operation Parakaram’ where he laid and recovered large number of mines.

He also participated in ‘Operation Rakshak’ at Mendhar in Jammu and Kashmir for two years, where he was actively involved in counter-insurgency operations. He volunteered to serve with Rashtriya Rifles in Jammu and Kashmir for two years.

The JCO also volunteered to serve as a Commando in NSG for three years. Later, he went to North East from 2009 to 2012 to take part in ‘Operation Rhino’, where he was part of several successful operations against the militants as the ghatak platoon JCO.

His colleagues remember him as ‘Rambo’ who used to lift others weapons as well as load in addition to his own. He was highly adventurous and also did a para-motor course with outstanding grading. He is survived by wife Asha and two sons Amit TN and Preetham TN, aged 6 and 4, respectively.

The others killed in the avalanche were Havildar Elumalai M of Dukkam Parai village, Vellore district, Tamil Nadu, Lance Havildar S Kumar of Kumanan Thozhu village, Theni district, Tamil Nadu, Lance Naik Sudheesh of Monroethuruth village, Kollam district, Kerala and Sepoy Mahesha PN of HD Kote village, Mysore district, Karnataka.

Sepoy Ganesan of Chokkathevan Patti village, Madurai district, Tamil Nadu, Sepoy Rama Moorthy of Gudisatana Palli village, Krishnagiri District, Tamil Nadu, Sepoy Mustaq Ahmed of Parnapalle village, Kurnool district, Andhra Pradesh and Sepoy (Nursing Assistant) Suryawanshi S V of Maskarwadi village, Satara district, Maharashtra are the others. — PTI