Summary Soldier Hanamanthappa Koppad was found alive.
SRINAGAR (AP / AFP) — Officials say an Indian soldier buried by an avalanche for six days in the Himalayan region of Kashmir has been rescued, but that the bodies of nine other soldiers were recovered.
The avalanche slammed into an Indian army post last Wednesday and trapped the 10 soldiers on the northern end of Siachen Glacier, the highest point along the heavily militarized line of control between India and Pakistan.
Indian military commander Lt. Gen. D.S. Hooda said Tuesday that soldier Hanamanthappa Koppad was found alive and was rescued Monday night from under at least 7 meters (25 feet) of snow.
He is receiving medical treatment at the army’s hospital in New Delhi.
Avalanches and landslides are common in the area during the winter and temperatures there can drop as low as minus 60 degrees Celsius (140 degrees Fahrenheit).
In January, four soldiers were killed by an avalanche, while last year another four died when their vehicle was buried under an avalanche near Leh, the main city of the high-altitude region known as Ladakh.
An estimated 8,000 troops have died on the glacier since 1984, almost all of them from avalanches, landslides, frostbite, altitude sickness or heart failure rather than combat.
India and Pakistan fought over Siachen in 1987. But guns on the glacier have largely fallen silent since a peace process began in 2004.
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