Avalanche traps about 150 Pakistani soldiers

[VCheng]

The trouble with this type of operations is that there is no "User manual" ,and no set procedures.
People have to learn as they do it.
2010 Chilean mine incident? Although a rescue operation all along,took then 69 days.
We are in the 12th day of siachen disaster,so still there may be a long way to go.

Yes, I agree that this will be a long, difficult and dangerous operation.

 

[mughaljee]

Last time , Mr Nawaz Sharif former Prime Minister visited the Avalanche site, and spoke to media,
"Pakistan should pull out their troops from Siachen Glacie before India"
Fellows,
what kind the behavior of former Prime minister,
1- Who start this ?
2- What are the consequences regarding Indus River if troops leave this place?
3- Significance of Qaraquram Hihway
4- Mr Nawaz Sharif will give us guarantee that after troops pull out, India will not do anything ?
5- Our Former Prime Minister of Pakistan but with the words loves India.
I am disappointed.

 

[GUNNER]

Desolation of Gayari army base

GAYARI CAMP: Half a dozen tattered yellow flags poke from a huge boulder-strewn expanse of gravel and ice. They mark where the buildings of Gayari army base once stood.

In the early hours of April 7, thousands of tonnes of ice, rock and snow crashed down onto the camp, the battalion headquarters of the sixth Northern Light Infantry 4,000 metres up in the mountains of Kashmir.

The disaster that entombed 140 people has been described as an avalanche, but the dense, rocky rubble that now covers the camp to a depth of around 60 metres looks more like the aftermath of a landslide.

The Pakistan army has been searching for the 129 soldiers and 11 civilians buried at the remote Gayari site for nearly two weeks and they insist they have not yet given up hope of finding survivors.

But it is almost impossible to imagine anyone surviving even the initial impact of such a weight of rock and ice — one of the boulders carried down the mountainside onto the site measures at least 30 metres across and 20 metres high.

Yet the search goes on, with bulldozers and mechanical excavators — looking like children’s toys against the immense mountains — ploughing through the debris.

Faced with the featureless expanse of ice and rock more than a square kilometre in area, search teams used army records to work out where camp buildings stood, marking them with yellow flags, to concentrate their efforts there.

Brigadier Saqib Mahmood Malik, the Siachen brigade commander, said his soldiers were desperate to help their comrades.

“We don’t need morale or motivation. Merely that our colleagues are under it — that is the source of motivation to get them out. I really don’t have to push my men to do this job,” he told AFP.

The soldiers’ indefatigability in the face of daunting challenges — sub-zero temperatures, daily blizzards, constant threat of further avalanches — is admirable, but one dismissed the idea of praise.


“For you it’s impressive, but for us it’s an enormous tragedy,” he told AFP.

There is no question the task the rescuers face is overwhelming — no visible trace remains of the base, which stood on the site since 1988 and was regarded as a very low avalanche risk.

It is as if the desolate, saw-tooth peaks that loom dizzyingly over Gayari tired of their human tenants and with a single terrifying sweep returned the site to the barren grey-brown monochrome of the rest of the valley.

Gayari sits just below the Siachen Glacier, known as the “world’s highest battlefield”, where Pakistani and Indian troops have faced off in unimaginably harsh conditions since the 1980s.

Both countries expend huge resources maintaining troops at altitudes of up to 6,000 metres and questions have been raised about the value of defending such harsh terrain — and the environmental impact on a delicate glacial ecosystem.

Waste from military camps is a major problem, environmental experts say, leaching poisonous chemicals into the glacier and threatening to pollute water systems that millions of people across the subcontinent depend upon.

The Siachen feeds into the Indus river, Pakistan’s largest, and Pakistani army chief General Ashfaq Kayani acknowledged the ecological damage the ongoing standoff was wreaking.

“We understand the physical deployment of troops, that glaciers get affected, the environment gets affected,” he said on Wednesday after visiting Gayari.

“It does not affect only the Indus river — it affects the environment of this region and it affects in some ways the environment of the world.

“If there’s no other reason I think this is one good enough reason that this area should not be militarised.”

Since the conflict flared in 1984, more lives have been lost to the cold weather and treacherous conditions than combat. It remains to be seen whether the Gayari tragedy will be enough to bring the men down from the mountain.

Desolation of Gayari army base | DAWN.COM

 

[Safriz]

GAYARI, SIACHEN: The search and rescue operation to recover 139 soldiers and civilians trapped underneath an avalanche continues for the thirteenth day. 400 soldiers and civilians are taking part in the operation while the team of US experts has left Gayari.



Despite facing harsh weather conditions, rescuers have managed to make a 450 metre tunnel after digging at five points.



Digging has also commenced at four new points as the morale of soldiers taking part in the search and rescue operation remains high.



Apart from using the latest machines, explosives are also being used to break rock. The seven member team from Norway remains in Gayari and is assisting Pakistan army soldiers in the operation.

Siachen: Day 13 of search operation - thenews.com.pk

 

[VCheng]

................

.................

Without safety glasses, both these guys are just one stone chip away from being blinded!

 

[Windjammer]

Without safety glasses, both these guys are just one stone chip away from being blinded!

Pity they can't read your comments, otherwise I am sure they will sue their employer for health and safety.
Hell, they may not be even digging for their comrades today, had the Army put up a Chicken net fence around the camp.
The PA could surely use some concerned advisers of your calibre.

 

[VCheng]

Pity they can't read your comments, otherwise I am sure they will sue their employer for health and safety.
Hell, they may not be even digging for their comrades today, had the Army put up a Chicken net fence around the camp.
The PA could surely use some concerned advisers of your calibre.

Your sarcasm aside, it is just that I have seen many adverse consequences of such a simple lapse, which is easy to rectify, over the past few decades. The rest is up to them (and you).

Aggay tuhaadi marzi bhaijan.

 

[Icarus]

Without safety glasses, both these guys are just one stone chip away from being blinded!

Welcome to Pakistan! Contrary to what most people think, the Army is not a walk in the park and neither do we have an infinite budget as many of our pseudo-left radicals suggest. Most of the time, safety equipment takes the largest 'Maybe Next Time'. I have seen men at artillery positions with their ears bleeding after prolonged shelling campaigns because they have no ear protection.
Life of a soldier, it's damn tough!

 

[VCheng]

Welcome to Pakistan! Contrary to what most people think, the Army is not a walk in the park and neither do we have an infinite budget as many of our pseudo-left radicals suggest. Most of the time, safety equipment takes the largest 'Maybe Next Time'. I have seen men at artillery positions with their ears bleeding after prolonged shelling campaigns because they have no ear protection.
Life of a soldier, it's damn tough!

Haven't I said before "Safety costs Money"?

I understand your point.

 

[Windjammer]

No PR89/2012-ISPR
Rawalpindi - April 19, 2012:
Update Avalanche Clearance at Gayari Sector Siachen

To augment the search and rescue operation Ground penetrating Radars alongwith experts have been sent to Gayari.
Norwegian team has carried out survey and preparing map of the area for engineering guidance.
Meanwhile search operation continues at all sites with all available resources. A total of 495 persons including 83 civilians alongwith 29 engineering machines (Dumpers, Dozers, excavators etc) are employed at the sites

 

[Icarus]

Haven't I said before "Safety costs Money"?

I understand your point.

Sure does, and these days, money is a rare commodity, particularly for us!
And that's just whack considering less than half a decade ago, we had so much of it that we were arming EVERY SINGLE POLICEMAN with a Glock!
Modern Economics..............It's a Bi7ch!

 

[VCheng]

Sure does, and these days, money is a rare commodity, particularly for us!
And that's just whack considering less than half a decade ago, we had so much of it that we were arming EVERY SINGLE POLICEMAN with a Glock!
Modern Economics..............It's a Bi7ch!

I can only hope that the lives of the rescuers are regarded as precious as those lost, perhaps even more so naturally speaking. I would not wish to see an accident happen, given the unstable slopes and material surrounding the rescuers at the depths of digging being carried on.

Economics and Geopolitics are both sisters actually, in the same vein as you describe.

 

[Musafar]

This looks like a landslide rather than an avalanche. The amount of earth that needs to be shifted looks imeasurable.

I'm guessing the first located body is going give the best indication on how long this task is going to take.

Aside from that, the displacement of earth is also going to be a huge factor.

Just wish there were more pics/vids of the incident.

There always seems to be resticted media coverage which is something ive grown to detest of the army and government especially evident in places where drone strikes occur.

WHY?

This is a national disaster, let the media in ffs! I don't wana see ISPR-taken shots.

 

[VCheng]

............ let the media in ffs! I don't wana see ISPR-taken shots.

If I were to decide, I would not want numerous high resolution photographs of the surrounding high mountains and ridge and outcrops be taken, for they have the potential to come back to haunt the soldiers in case of another bout of "adventurism".

 

[Safriz]

This looks like a landslide rather than an avalanche. The amount of earth that needs to be shifted looks imeasurable.

I'm guessing the first located body is going give the best indication on how long this task is going to take.

Aside from that, the displacement of earth is also going to be a huge factor.

Just wish there were more pics/vids of the incident.

There always seems to be resticted media coverage which is something ive grown to detest of the army and government especially evident in places where drone strikes occur.

WHY?

This is a national disaster, let the media in ffs! I don't wana see ISPR-taken shots.

The gray matter you see is the insides of a Glacier..Pulverized rock mixed with ice over Milena.