Mortal remains of martyrs arrive in Bengaluru

The mortal remains of seven soldiers who were killed in an avalanche in the Siachen glacier arrived in the city in a military aircraft from Delhi via Hyderabad on Monday.

The bodies of three bravehearts, including two from Karnataka, were given a guard of honour at the HAL Airport, before they were taken to their respective hometowns by road. The remaining four bodies were flown to Chennai, Madurai and Thiruvananthapuram in a separate aircraft.

The bodies of Subedar Nagesha T T from Hassan, Sepoy Mahesha P N from H D Kote, Mysuru district and Sepoy Rama Moorthy from Gudisatanapalli in Krishnagiri (Tamil Nadu) were taken to their respective destinations through a green corridor (zero traffic lane) created for the purpose. At the HAL airport, Bengaluru Development Minister K J George, Chief Secretary Arvind Jadhav, Bengaluru Urban Deputy Commissioner V Shankar and Police Commissioner N S Megharikh paid their final respect to the martyrs.

About 80 jawans from the Parachute Regiment Training Centre, 94 soldiers from the South and 54 from the North ASC Centre and College gave the guard of honour.
The families of the deceased soldiers - including the wife of Nagesha - who were at the airport broke into tears while paying tributes.

On February 3, nine soldiers were killed when an avalanche hit the Army’s Sonam post in Siachen. Lance Naik Hanmanthappa Koppad, who was rescued alive after he was buried under snow for six days, breathed his last on February 11.