Indian soldier buried under 25ft ice rescued after 6 days

An Indian army soldier, who was buried under 25 feet of ice at the Siachen Glacier, the world's highest and coldest battlefield in temperatures close to minus 40 degrees, for six days, has been rescued alive in what is being described as a miracle.

Late on Monday night, a rescue team of the army, which had been chipping away at thick piles of hard snow, for days, found the solider Hanamanthappa Koppad, in an "arctic tent" and was astonished to feel a faint pulse, reports NDTV. 

Lance Naik Hanamanthappa and nine other soldiers were buried deep after a wall of ice a kilometer wide and 800 metres high came down crashing on their border outpost at an altitude of 21,000 feet.

Severely dehydrated and stiff, Hanamanthappa drifted in and out of consciousness as a doctor revived him. His condition is stated to be stable.

"Rescuing the soldier is nothing short of a miracle. A wall of snow as thick and hard as concrete had fallen on them," Lt Gen SK Patyal told NDTV.

"The operation was extremely difficult," he said. The rescue team could not work more than 30 minutes at a time because breathing at that height is so difficult.

The army had all but lost hope of finding anyone, dead or alive and Prime Minister Narendra Modi had also tweeted: "I salute the brave soldiers who gave their lives to the nation. Condolences to their families."

Five bodies have also been found after some 300 sorties and an intense search. Four soldiers are still missing.

The rescue, involving heavy equipment that had to be assembled at the top, and dogs, became particularly challenging because the snow had turned into hard chunks of ice. In temperatures between minus 40 and 25 degrees, rescue teams had to battle frequent blizzards and work through low visibility.

The Siachen Glacier, located at the northern tip of Kashmir, is the world's highest and coldest battlefield. More soldiers have died here because of weather and difficult terrain than in battle.

According to one statistics, at least 869 officers and soldiers have been killed there since mid-1980s.