Four soldiers of 3 Ladakh Scouts died when their patrol party was hit by a massive avalanche in Ladkah region of Jammu and Kashmir, a Defence Spokesman said today.

"Four jawans of 3 Ladakh Scouts were killed when their patrol party was hit by a snow avalanche at the Southern Glacier in Ladkah at 4:30 PM yesterday", Udhampur based Defence Spokesman Col S D Goswami told PTI.

Soon after the avalanche, a rescue operation was launched but the lives of four soldiers could not be saved. 

The bodies of four soldiers were retrieved from the avalanche site and were sent for postmortem at Hundar Hospital, Col Goswami said.

The four deceased have been identified as Havaldar Tsewang Nurbu, Havaldar Dorjay Gyaltsan, Rifleman Mohammad Yousuf and Rifleman Jigmaid Chosdup.

He said the mortal remains of the soldiers would be handed over to their next of kins after conducting all the medical formalities