One person was left dead and seven others, including a local guide have been rescued after a massive avalanche hit Jammu and Kashmir’s Gulmarg on Thursday. This comes a day after authorities issues avalanche warning for several areas in the state in view of the aggravated cold wave.
As per reports the deceased skier was from Russia. A group of 8 skiers including foreigners came under the avalanche that hit them near the Khilan Marg area of Gulmarg’s Afarwat Peak on Thursday afternoon.
The rescue operation has now been called off as all the trapped skiers were brought down safely.
The region has been experiencing snowfall and rain in the last few days in its tribal and hilly region. The avalanche warning for high altitude areas of Lahaul, and Spiti, Kinnaur, Shimla, Chamba and Kullu districts were issued by the Defence Geoinformatics Research Establishment (DGRE), Chandigarh.
Since the beginning of the year, sixty-one people died and two went missing due to landslides, falling from height, drowning and fire incidents in the state.
Russian Embassy in Contact With Local Authorities
Following the tragic incident, the Russian Embassy took to their official X account to share the information and the updates in connection to the incident. The Russian Embassy in India wrote on X, According to media reports, on February 22, 2024, approx at 2 pm, 7 #Russia’n nationals came under an avalanche at the ski resort in #Gulmarg, J & K. One skier died, six others were rescued as a result of the joint operation of #Indian Armed Forced & regional administration.”
In another post they added, “The Embassy of #Russia in #India maintains constant contact with the local authorities. The avalance was triggered by the heavy snowfall observed in the region since February 17. On February 21, a medium danger level avalanche warning was issued for #Baramulla district, J&K.”
SNOWFALL’S IMPACT
A total of 405 roads, including four national highways, were rendered shut by snow and 577 electricity transformers were disrupted, the state emergency response centre said.
The maximum number of roads — 288 — were closed in Lahaul and Spiti, which followed by Chamba and Kullu, which had 83 and 21 roads rendered unnavigable.
Koksar and Atal Tunnel received 45 cm of snow, followed by Sissu and Kothi, which got 30 cm. Keylong, Kusumseri, and Bharmour got 18 cm, 15.3 cm, and 8 cm of snow.
RAIN IN THE REGION
Manali was wettest with 29 mm of rain, followed by Salooni and Tissa, and Chamba, which got 25.3 mm, 20 mm, 16 mm of it. Seobagh and Baijnath got 11 mm and 8.0 mm of rain. The minimum temperatures across the region dropped by a few notches, with several areas shivering due to sub-zero temperatures.
Kusumseri was coldest in the state with a minimum temperature of minus 7.1 degrees, followed by Sumdo with minus 2 degrees, Bharmour and Kalpa with minus 1.2 degrees, Narkanda with minus 0.5 degrees, Manali with minus 0.1 degrees, and Shimla with 2.9 degrees.
Rain over the past few days has reduced the seasonal winter rain deficit from 58 per cent to 34 per cent. The state received 104.2 mm against a normal of 158 mm from January 1 to February 21.
The local Meteorological station forecast dry weather in lower and mid hills for the next four days and rain or snow at isolated places in higher hills on Thursday and Saturday, followed by another wet spell on February 26 and 27.
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