Avalanche Buries 135 Pakistani Soldiers And Civilians On Saturday

The avalanche rolling over a Pakistani army battalion headquarters in the Himalayan region of Kashmir on Saturday buried 124 soldiers and 11 civilian employees of the military -- with no sign of survivors yet -- according to the country's Inter Services Public Relations, or ISPR.

Incredibly, the 6 Northern Light Infantry Battalion headquarters in the Gayari sector near Skardu has been located in the same place for the past 20 years without incident, ISPR said. The snowslide has covered an area of about 1 square kilometer.

Helicopters, sniffing dogs, and troops on ground are employed in search-and-rescue efforts, while heavy engineering machinery has been airlifted to the site from Rawalpindi, ISPR said.

All of these search-and-rescue resources are needed because the snow is as much as 80 feet deep, according to Reuters.

The victims are trapped in one of the most unforgiving environments on earth, at an altitude of about 15,000 feet above sea level near the Siachen Glacier in the Karakoram mountain range, Reuters noted.

The area is also one of the world's most militarily tense frontiers, where the Indian and Pakistani armies have confronted each other over disputed territory for decades, Reuters pointed out.

ISPR has listed the names of the missing soldiers and civilians on its online site.