Category Archives: Accidents

Passengers stranded at Zojila pass in avalanche rescued

Leave a reply

29 November, 2020; ANI

Five passengers stranded at Zojila pass, after a snow avalanche hit the region, has been rescued by Border Roads Organizations (BRO) on Sunday.

The Project Beacon of Border Roads Organizations (BRO) on Sunday rescued the passengers from Srinagar-Sonmarg road. Vehicles were also evacuated from here and the road was opened for traffic later.

It is noted that a four-member committee has been constituted for the management of the opening and closure of Zojila pass this month. Divisional Commissioners of Kashmir, Ladakh, Ganderbal, and Kargil are members of the committee. (ANI)

Srinagar-Leh highway perilous for travelers

Four persons traveling in a Xylo car on way to Kargil from Sonamarg had a narrow escape when their vehicle came under a massive avalanche near India Gate on Zojila Pass on Saturday.

The four had set out on the journey after some light motor vehicles were allowed to move on the highway which was reopened for traffic after five days on Saturday. However, soon the highway was again closed.

As they reached near India Gate on Zojila Pass a massive avalanche hurtled down burying their car, sources said. “Luckily, few workers of border roads organization who were carrying the snow clearance work on the highway saw the incident and immediately a joint rescue operation of Drass police and BRO was started,” sources said. After hectic efforts by the rescue team, all the four including the driver were rescued safely and the cab was pulled out from the snow. The rescue operation continued till late night and was monitored by SDM Drass Asgar Ali, SHO Drass Manzoor Ahmed and BRO officials.

The strategic 434 Km long Srinagar-Leh highway, which is the lifeline for Ladakh and its socioeconomic development, connects the region with rest of Jammu and Kashmir. The road remains closed for about five months during winters as the area from Sonamarg-Drass along the highway receives heavy snowfall. Come winters, one can see the chaos and confusion that always prevails on the Srinagar-Leh highway due to snowfall, slippery road conditions, traffic jams and the dangerous snow avalanches that occur anytime.

Due to the pandemic, the authorities on the recommendations of the Ladakh UT administration this winter decided to keep open the Srinagar-Leh highway till maximum possible time to stock up essential commodities in Ladakh. “However the situation emerging after the recent snowfall and the road conditions prevailing can be a death trap for the travelers,” sources said.

Sub divisional magistrate, Drass, Asgar Ali told Greater Kashmir that it was a miraculous escape for the four persons. “The light motor vehicles were allowed from Sonamarg to Kargil on Sunday and the road is connected, but the sudden snow slides triggered by heavy winds remain a concern and challenge. In winters the chances of snow avalanche caused by heavy winds are more and it puts the life of travellers as well as the people working on highway at risk,” the SDM said, adding that to keep the highway open during winters is risky as well as challenging.

Meanwhile, a traffic advisory issued today said that subject to fair weather and good road condition, only one-way traffic from Kargil towards Srinagar shall be allowed on Srinagar-Sonamarg-Gumari road. “LMVs (shall be allowed) from Minamarg followed by HMVs between 0830 hrs to 1400 hrs. No vehicle shall be allowed after cut off time; the vehicles may carry anti-skid chain to gain more grip on the slippery road. Security forces shall follow the same schedule. No vehicle shall be allowed from Gagangir towards Sonamarg between 1800 hrs to 0900 hrs due to slippery condition of the road.”

Prince Charles avalanche episode on Netflix criticized

Leave a reply

The wife of Hugh Lindsay, killed while skiing with Prince Charles, asked Netflix not to feature the avalanche

Nov 2020

The widow of a British army major who died in an avalanche while skiing with Prince Charles has criticized the producers of The Crown on Netflix as “unkind” for dramatizing the disaster against her wishes.

Major Hugh Lindsay, a former Queen’s equerry, was skiing off-piste at the Swiss resort of Klosters in 1988 with a group including senior royals when disaster struck, with his friend the Prince of Wales and others reported to have dug snow with their hands in a vain attempt to save his life.

After the episode on “The Crown” titled “Avalanche” was made available for streaming last week, Lindsay’s widow, Sarah Horsley, has revealed she had asked Netflix not to adapt the disaster for television.

“I was horrified when I was told [the episode] was happening and was very concerned about the impact on my daughter,” she told the Sunday Telegraph.

“I’m very upset by it and I’m dreading people seeing it. I wrote to them asking them not to do it, not to use the accident. I suppose members of the royal family have to grin and bear it, but for me it’s a very private tragedy.”

She added that the producers replied with “a very kind letter”, saying “that they understood my concerns, but they hope I will feel that they deal with difficult subject matters with integrity and great sensitivity”.

However, Horsley said: “I think it’s very unkind to many members of the family.”

Netflix’s description of the episode reads: “Charles is caught in a deadly avalanche, and he and Diana are prompted to reevaluate their commitment to their troubled marriage.”

At the time of the disaster, Horsley was pregnant with their daughter Alice and still working at her job in the press office at Buckingham Palace. She did not go on the ski trip and stayed at their south London home.

Charles, who went on to become a godfather to Alice, later wrote: “I still find it hard to understand why I survived and he didn’t.”

Patti Palmer-Tomkinson, another friend of the Prince, received severe injuries to both of her legs and her lungs. Princess Diana, who was also on the holiday, was not on the slopes when the avalanche hit and had stayed at their chalet in Davos, along with Sarah, Duchess of York.

The group then flew back to London, where a guard of honor from Major Lindsay’s regiment met his coffin.

Netflix has also faced criticism over the historical accuracy of its script, with calls for it to be accompanied by a disclaimer explicitly stating that some events have been embellished. The scriptwriter, Peter Morgan, has said: “Sometimes you have to forsake accuracy, but you must never forsake truth.”

The Times reported this week that friends of the Prince of Wales had described the show as exploitative and inaccurate. “This is trolling with a Hollywood budget,” a source said.

Austria avalanche: Skier survives five hours

Leave a reply

27 December 2019

Rescuers have dubbed the survival of a man a “Christmas miracle” after an avalanche in Austria buried him in snow for five hours.

Authorities were contacted shortly before 17:00 (16:00 GMT) on Christmas Day 2019 by a man who said the 26-year-old had not yet returned from skiing.

The man had managed to get through to the skier’s mobile phone but heard only “crackling noises”.

The missing skier was located a couple hours later.

He was found beneath a meter of snow with his avalanche transceiver, which pinpointed the man on Mt Pleschnitzzinken in the north-western area of Upper Styria.

Transceivers are worn on the body and emit an electromagnetic signal. They can also be used in search mode to pick up signals from other devices.

‘Extremely lucky’

A team from the Gröbming mountain rescue and local police dug the man out of the snow and he was taken down to the valley suffering from hypothermia but otherwise unharmed.

“You can’t move under the snow like this,” said Stefan Schröck of the Styria mountain rescue service. “The man was extremely lucky, he had a large enough air pocket under the blanket of snow, so he had oxygen and was able to breathe.”

Surviving for five hours under an avalanche happens only every 20 years in the Alps, according to Mr Schröck. If you are not found within 15 minutes of an avalanche your chances of survival are slim and if you are to survive beyond an hour you need a source of oxygen.

Skier brought out after five hours

Most Colorado Avalanches Don’t Involved Beginners

Leave a reply

November, 2020

The Colorado Avalanche Center (CAIC) recently published a report related to how the COVID-19 pandemic and correlated surge of backcountry use has impacted avalanche numbers in Colorado. One key finding was that while the number of backcountry beginners involved in snow avalanches stayed similar before and after the pandemic and the number of intermediate users involved in avalanches actually decreased, the number of advanced skiers involved in avalanches spiked.

Another trend discovered in the report was that more avalanche-related accidents occurred during ‘considerable’ avalanche risk days, despite less total ‘considerable’ risk days during the season.

During their analysis, the Avalanche Center categorized those involved in avalanches based on their skill level. Fifteen percent were beginner, 25 percent were intermediate, 47 percent were advanced, and 8 percent were expert.

According to the CAIC Avalanche Center, results from this study align with previous research that has indicated that avalanche education does not reduce avalanche exposure.

Another interesting finding from the CAIC study was that most avalanche incidents during the 2019-2020 season occurred during level 2 (moderate) risk, accounting for 60 percent of incidents. Thirty percent of avalanches occurred during level 3 risk (considerable) risk.