Five Army personnel died early Saturday morning while carrying out a routine military training activity with tanks that involved crossing the Shyok River at the Daulat Beg Oldie (DBO) area of eastern Ladakh, officials told The Indian Express. A troop of Russian-origin T-72 tanks was engaged in the fording exercise, officials added.
As per officials, while the leading tank managed to cross the river, at least one of the tanks drifted due to a high current and a sudden increase in water levels of the river and eventually got stuck in the river. Despite attempts to rescue them, the Army personnel got swept away due to the strong river current. The rescue operations to retrieve the bodies are currently underway.
The Army’s 14 Corps, which is responsible for the Ladakh sector, said the tank got stuck in the Shyok River near Saser Brangsa of eastern Ladakh due to a sudden rise in water levels while it was in the process of de-inducting from a military training activity.
“Rescue teams rushed to the location, however, due to high current and water levels, the rescue mission did not succeed and the tank crew lost their lives,” it said.
“Indian Army regrets loss of five brave personnel while being operationally deployed in eastern Ladakh. Rescue operations are underway,” it added.
Since the Galwan Valley clashes in 2020, there has been an increased armoured deployment in the strategic DBO area of eastern Ladakh. DBO lies less than 10 km west of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) at Aksai Chin. A military outpost was created in DBO in reaction to China’s occupation of Aksai Chin and is at present manned by a combination of the Army’s Ladakh Scouts and the paramilitary Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP).
While initially only one brigade of the tanks was deployed in the area, the deployment was subsequently increased to two brigades with an increased number of battalions. Since their deployment in the area, they have been carrying out routine training there so that the crew and tanks are familiar with the area and likely situations.
India and China have been engaged in a military standoff in eastern Ladakh since 2020.
Friction points such as Galwan Valley, north and south banks of Pangong Tso and the Gogra-Hot Springs area have seen some amount of resolution since the beginning of the current military standoff between India and China in 2020 with the creation of buffer zones along the LAC.
Around 50,000-60,000 troops have been deployed on both sides of the India-China border since then, even as there was some troop reduction in the last few months because of winter.
An overall de-escalation of the troops is only expected after the resolution of the legacy issues of Depsang Plains and Demchok.
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First uploaded on: 29-06-2024 at 11:09 IST
