At least 2 killed, 19 rescued after avalanche hits ski resort in Jammu and Kashmir's Gulmarg

A video from the scene captured the panic among tourists as the whoosh of snow came rolling down. The Apharwat or Afarwat peak is popular with skiers

Two Polish skiers were killed while 21 others were rescued after a massive avalanche hit the Afrawat peak at the ski resort of Gulmarg in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district on Wednesday.

Police said three teams of skiers comprising 21 foreign nationals and two local guides went to Afrawat peak for skiing on Wednesday morning and at about 12:30 pm a massive avalanche hit Hapatkhud Kangdori trapping the skiing teams. Afarwat peak, a premiere skiing spot, is visited by thousands of tourists every winter.

On receiving the information, police alongwith army rushed to the spot to rescue the trapped skiers and the guides, a police spokesperson said. 19 foreign nationals and two local guides were rescued, but unfortunately two Polish nationals lost their lives in the incident.

The slain skiers were identified as Krzysltof, 43, and Adam Grzech, 45. The bodies of both the foreign nationals have been recovered and shifted to hospital for medico legal formalities, police said.

Some videos are making the rounds on social media showing people running to save their lives. In one such video shared by a local journalist Umaisar Gull, people can be seen running for lives after they witnessed the avalanche approaching towards them.

Deepak Chinchore from Karnataka, an eyewitness of the avalanche said that he saw the dance of death before his eyes. “A 20 ft wall of ice fell on the skiers and they got buried under it. It’s all about nature’s fury,” Chinchore, a member of All India Congress Committee, told news agency PTI.

The rescued skiers were identified as Ekaterina, Maxim, Vladimir, Vasiliy, Engine, Leo, Nikita Mastryukov, Anna Chornyak, residents of Russia and Rafat Kaqmaren, Narcin Wieklux, Eukasz Potaczewck, Tukasz Pasek, Katarzyna Filip, Marcin Raczyk, Barteomie Szkop, Bartosz Domagata, Adrian Anirowsu, Macie Kowalczyk, all residents of Poland, a foreign guide Bartos from Poland and two local guides from Tangmarg.

Snow avalanches are deceptively dangerous natural disasters as blankets of snow and ice that are loose enough race down mountain slopes at frightening speeds and can bury people alive.

Rescuers, meanwhile, are racing against time to find victims caught in an avalanche as they only have a limited supply of air when buried under the avalanche.