Shimla, Nov 18
Five snow marooned Engineers of Jabalpur Civil Defence wing were rescued from Sarchu on Keylong – Leh highway on Wednesday the police source confirmed.
Superintendent of Police Lahaul Spiti Manva Verma said that a team of engineers were deployed by the Army to repair a truck near Sarchu on Monday but heavy snowfall at height of 14000 feet from the sea level stranded them in the snow. The rescue team from Keylong was deployed to evacuate them which reached Sarchu on Tuesday night and brought them to Keylong safely today, he added.
The engineers had to brave the extreme the night in extreme and fatal cold weather conditions as night temperature of the snowy pass plunged down to minus 15 degrees.
The team of engineers were deployed to repair a break down truck near Leh but they themselves got stranded in the snowfall. Currently entire Lahaul valley is under one to two feet carpet of snow and is facing extreme weather conditions which is not healthy for the human habitation.
Indian Army vehicles could ply on the high way after Oct 15 as it normally close down for the civil vehicles due to closing down of Keylong -Leh road. Due to opening of all weather Rohtang tunnel for the vehicular traffic this year for the first time the movement of vehicles are still unrestricted up to Keylong where BRO is maintaining the snow roads .
