In a tragic incident, ten Army soldiers were killed when two avalanches took place in Jammu and Kashmir's Gurez sector. A massive rescue operation has started as two jawans were reported to be missing after the tragedy.

"Ten soldiers were killed in two separate avalanche tragedies in Gurez sector of the LoC (on Wednesday)," an army statement said.

"A Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) and six soldiers were rescued after avalanches hit their camp. Rescue operations were immediately launched in extremely bad weather amid heavy snowfall," the statement said.

A similar incident took place on Thursday. An Army major was killed and four other soldiers were wounded when an avalanche hit a camp in Sonmarg in Ganderbal district.

Meanwhile, the government has warned people to stay vigilant. People staying in upper reaches and near avalanches prone zones were asked to stay alerted and shift to safer places.

The authorities in Kashmir have also announced the avalanche warning for higher reaches of the Valley due to fresh snowfall and everyone was asked to stay away from the mountains and foothills.

In another incident, a family consisting of four members died after their house got buried under snow in Gurez sector near Line of Control in north Kashmir's Bandipora district.

As per the police statement, "the avalanche struck the Badugam village at around 4:30 in the morning and buried the house of 58-year-old Habibullah Lone. This resulted in a death of Lone, his wife Azizi (48), daughter Gulshan Bano (19) and son Irfan Lone (17)."

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BY M. DIVYA SRI