A beacon official was injured after mud and snow slide triggered while the agencies concerned were clearing the snow at Ferkiyaan top along the Kupwara-Keran road on Sunday.
A senior army officer based in Kupwara told GNS that a group of beacon labourers of 109 RCC regiment presently attached with Army’s 268 brigade in Keran was pressed into service by authorities to clear snow along the Kupwara-Keran road. 'A bulldozer and at least twelve labourers were on job. Suddenly, a mud and snow slide occurred and the driver (of bulldozer) Amandeep Singh (belt no. 15588066 L) came under it," the officer said.
He added that the soldiers of the nearby brigade immediately started the rescue operation and evacuated the driver, who was in an unconscious state. "He was immediately shifted to nearby military hospital for treatment where his condition is said to be stable,” he said. In the incident, all the 12 labourers had a miraculous escape.
The officer, meanwhile, ruled out the avalanche and said: "it was actually a mud and snow slide which came at a time when the bulldozer was clearing the heap of snow along the road, and its upper side the slides occurred".