Three persons were missing after they came under a snow avalanche at Lolab forest area of north Kashmir’s Kupwara district on Saturday. Local sources said that five persons had gone for hunting in Lashkote- the top forest area of Darpora which connects Lolab and Bandipora forest areas two days ago. They later divided into two groups one comprising three members while two others formed another group. As they were moving to different locations, snow avalanche struck and trapped the group comprising three members.
The two others tried to rescue them but themselves trapped and somehow managed their way out and ultimately travelled several kilometres to inform locals and police about the incident. One of the survivors Zameer Ahmad son of Mohd Sayed, a resident of Affan told GNS that they had gone to the area two days ago. Zameer said that he and another person Mohd Akbar Mir son of Mohd Subhan Mir took one location namely HumKhan Behak while three others were on the other side known as Gusbal Behak. As we were moving an avalanche struck trapping three persons namely Altaf Ahmad Mir son of Bashir Ahmad Mir, Bashir Ahmad Ganie son of Ghulam Rasool Ganie and Ghulam Mohd Lone son of Ali Mohd Lone all residents of Warnow, Lolab.
“There was a huge noise which attracted our attention and we tried to locate three other members of the group by following the footprints but as we moved towards the area there was complete snow blanket and we tried our best to retrieve them got trapped in the process,” Zameer said, adding “We somehow managed to save ourselves and later travelled several kilometers to acquaint people about it and the police. SHO Lalpora Abdul Rashid told GNS that a rescue team comprising of police Kuligam, police Lalpora, SDRF, locals He said that there were continuous snow and rains which has hampered the operation and would be resumed tomorrow morning.