JCO, 4 soldiers killed as tank swept away by river

Five soldiers, including a junior commissioned officer, were killed during a tank exercise on Friday night in eastern Ladakh after their Russian-origin T-72 was swept away by the raging waters of the Shyok river near Saser Brangsa, officials said on Saturday.

The soldiers belonged to the 52 Armoured Regiment deployed at Daulat Beg Oldi (DBO), India’s northernmost military base near the contested Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China, HT has learnt.

A squad consisting of nine soldiers attempted a rescue mission in an assault boat in pitch-dark conditions, but returned after finding itself in a precarious situation in the swollen river and could not save the men, said one of the officials cited above, who asked not to be named.

Narrating the turn of events in a post on X, the army said: “On 28 Jun 2024 night, while deinducting from a military training activity, an army tank got stuck in the Shyok River, near Saser Brangsa, Eastern Ladakh due to sudden increase in the water level.”

While rescue teams were rushed to the location, “due to high current and water levels, the rescue mission didn’t succeed, and the tank crew lost their lives”, the Leh-based HQs 14 Corps said. “Indian Army regrets loss of five brave personnel while being operationally deployed in Eastern Ladakh.”

The army identified the five soldiers as Risaldar MRK Reddy, Havildar Subhan Khan, Dafedar Bhupendra Negi, Lance Dafedar Ekeidaung Teibam and Craftsman Sadarbonia Nagaraju.

The body of one of the soldiers was recovered till the time of going to print, while a search for the others was on.

Such crossings are carried out during drills after a detailed assessment of the river conditions to ensure safety, said a second official, who also requested anonymity. “The turn of events was totally unexpected because of a flashflood that seemed to have been triggered by weather patterns,” said this official.

The water levels in Shyok river are still rising, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said, with Leh-based scientists attributing the rise to fast melting of ice and glaciers amid high day temperatures.

“It rained at many places on June 21 and 22, but the weather has remained mainly dry and hot thereafter,” said Sonam Lotus, a scientist with IMD, Leh.

“There has been a continued rise of day temperatures which has led to fast melting of ice and glaciers because of which water levels in rivers like Shyok and Indus rose, and are still rising,” Lotus said, adding that the rise of water level in the June-end, July and August period is a regular feature every year following rainfall.

According to IMD data, there has been a significant rise in maximum temperature at Hunder Nubra since June 22 when it was 15.5°C. The temperature climbed steeply in the next few days, reaching 24.1°C on June 27 and 26.5°C on June 28. Humidity was low during this period. In June, Ladakh recorded 14.1mm rainfall, compared to a normal of 2.7mm, with most of the rain limited only to a few days around June 20 and 21.

Data from Tangste, near the pass Chang La Pass and closer to the area of the tank accident, shows there was rainfall on June 23 and 24. “This in combination with melting water from the glaciers may have contributed to the rise in water levels in the (Shyok) river,” Lotus added.

Defence minister Rajnath Singh condoled the loss of lives.

“Deeply saddened at the loss of lives of five of our brave Indian Army soldiers in an unfortunate accident while getting the tank across a river in Ladakh. We will never forget exemplary service of our gallant soldiers to the nation. My heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families. The nation stands firm with them during this hour of grief,” Singh wrote on X.

The incident took place near Saser Brangsa through which the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) is building a new road to provide much-needed alternative connectivity to the remote DBO outpost.

The construction of the 130-km road from Sasoma in the Nubra Valley to DBO near the Karakoram Pass is in its final phase. The existing 255-km Darbuk-Shyok-Daulat Beg Oldi (DS-DBO) road runs close to LAC. Sasoma and Darbuk can be reached from Leh via two different road axes.

Work on the Sasoma-Saser La-Saser Brangsa-Gapshan-DBO road gathered momentum four years ago in the backdrop of escalating military tensions between India and China.

The incident comes at a time when the military standoff between India and China in eastern Ladakh is now in its fifth year, with no indication of an immediate resolution to the outstanding problems along the contested LAC even as India is hoping that ongoing negotiations with the neighbour will help restore the status quo ante of April 2020.

The Indian Army and the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) have held 21 rounds of corps commander-level of talks to cool tensions along LAC, but the two sides still have tens of thousands of troops each and advanced weaponry deployed in the Ladakh theatre. Diplomatic talks are also underway to find a solution.

The talks have thus far resulted in four rounds of disengagement from Galwan Valley, Pangong Tso, Gogra (PP-17A) and Hot Springs (PP-15), but problems at Depsang and Demchok are still on the negotiating table.

Last August, nine soldiers were killed when an army truck, part of a three-vehicle convoy, veered off the road and plunged into a deep gorge near Kiari in Leh.