Despite freezing temperature following cloudy skies, the operation to recover a student, who went missing after a snow avalanche hit Gurez-Tulail area in north Kashmir district of Bandipora on Saturday afternoon, entered fifth day on Thursday.
With the first light this morning search operation was resumed to rescue a student Javid Ahmad Lone, who was buried under a snow avalanche at Check Nallah along with two other students when they were on way to home at Tulail after appearing in a local examination at Gurez on Saturday.
However, two other students identified as Arif Hussain and Ali Mohammad Lone were rescued and shifted to hospital in an injured condition.
Official sources said that the rescue operation in the area by locals, police, Army and SDRF personnel was stopped at around 2200 hrs due to darkness and threat of more avalanche. “Despite bad weather conditions, this morning operation was again resumed at 0700 hrs to rescue Javid,” they said.
They said the rescue operation was being hampered due to bad weather conditions followed by fresh avalanches in the area. “Sniffer dogs were also pressed into service to recover Javid,” they added.
Gurez, a border town surrounded by Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK) from three sides, remain cut off from district headquarter Bandipora for the past more than two months due to accumulation of snow and slippery road conditions, particularly at Razdan pass.