New Delhi: This was not an ordinary expedition, but an extraordinary display of courage and camaraderie showed by Indian Army when it recovered the bodies of three soldiers after undertaking a gruelling expedition at more than 18,000 feet, reaffirming its commitment to leave no man behind, dead or alive.
Members of the High Altitude Warfare School (HAWS) undertook the heroic mission to retrieve the bodies of three Havildar instructors who were trapped and buried under the debris of a deadly avalanche while undertaking a mountaineering expedition in October 2023.
In July 2023, a 38-member mountaineering expedition from HAWS set out to conquer Mount Kun in the Union Territory of Ladakh.
The expedition planned to conquer Mount Kun by October 13, 2023 which is located at treacherous terrain with unpredictable weather in this glaciated region posing immense challenges.
While fixing ropes on a snow wall, the team was struck by a sudden avalanche on October 8 at the height of over 18,000 feet on the Fariabad Glacier. The expedition made all endeavours to rescue four team members who fell in a crevasse and were buried under a large volume of snow.
Despite valiant efforts, the team could only recover the mortal remains of Lance Naik Stanzin Targais. The bodies of Havildar Rohit, Havildar Thakur Bahadur Ale and Naik Gautam Rajbanshi remained trapped deep within the crevasse.
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