Feb 8, 2022: Seven Indian soldiers have been killed in an avalanche on the Chinese border in the northeastern Himalayan state of Arunachal Pradesh.

The Indian military said it was on a routine foot patrol in the high-altitude Coming sector along the Line of Actual Control – the disputed border between India and China – when an avalanche struck on Sunday. Troops were reported missing after Sunday’s incident and efforts were made to rescue them.

“Search and rescue operations have now been concluded. Bodies of all seven individuals have been recovered from the avalanche site,” Lieutenant Colonel Harsh Wardhan Pande, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Defence in the northeast, said in a statement on Tuesday.

He said the Kameng region is at an altitude of 14,500 feet and has received heavy snowfall in the last few days. Relations with neighboring China have soured several times over the past few years due to border blockades, India has stepped up patrols in Arunachal Pradesh in the eastern Himalayas and has also accelerated the construction of roads and tunnels. Arunachal Pradesh borders Tibet region.

Avalanches are common in the upper Himalayas during the winter months. Last May, two Indian soldiers were killed in an avalanche in another Himalayan state, Sikkim. In October, seven trekkers were found dead after falling into a ravine after heavy snowfall near the 5,200-meter Lamkhga Pass.

After a series of skirmishes between Indian and Chinese forces in recent years, the Indian military has increased its military presence in the remote state bordering China’s Tibet region.

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