Five Army men drowned when their tank got stuck after a flash flood in Shyok river in the Daulat Beg Oldie (DBO) region of eastern Ladakh, which is near the Line of Actual Control with China.
The Russian-origin T-72 main-battle tank, which had a crew of one junior commissioned officer (JCO) and four jawans, was ‘de-inducting’ from a military exercise when the mishap occurred while crossing the river near Saser Brangsa due to “a sudden increase in the water level” around midnight.
“Rescue teams, including combat engineers in boats, rushed to the location. But the soldiers could not be saved due to the strong current in the swollen river. All the bodies were later recovered,” an officer said. The 52 Armoured Regiment soldiers who died were identified as MRK Reddy (JCO), Subhan Khan, Bhupendra Negi, Ekeidaung Teibam and Sadarbonia Nagaraju.
The night exercise, which included the river crossing drill, was taking place amid the continuing military confrontation with China in eastern Ladakh, which is into its fifth year now.
The Border Roads Organisation, incidentally, is in the final stages of completing a new alternate 130-km road from Sasoma in the Nubra Valley through Saser Brangsa to the DBO outpost.
The strategically-located DBO, which includes an advance landing ground (ALG) at an altitude of 16,614-feet, overlooks the Karakoram Pass and is just a few km from the LAC and the China-occupied Aksai Chin region beyond. Expressing deep sadness at “the loss of lives of the five brave soldiers in the unfortunate accident”, defence minister Rajnath Singh said, “We will never forget the exemplary service of our gallant soldiers to the nation.”
