Pakistan’s military hoped for a miracle on Sunday as rescue teams searched for 124 soldiers and 11 civilians buried by a Himalayan avalanche near the Indian border, with no sign of survivors more 24 hours later.
The avalanche engulfed a Pakistani army battalion headquarters near a glacier early on Saturday, leaving snow up to 80 feet deep over an area a kilometer wide.
The victims are trapped in one of the most unforgiving environments on Earth, at an altitude of 15,000 feet near the Siachen Glacier in the Karakoram mountain range.
“Let’s hope for a miracle,” a military official, who asked to remain anonymous, told Reuters.
Helicopter rescue teams and troops on the ground with sniffer dogs were racing against time.
“On Wednesday and Thursday we expect cloudy conditions and some snow fall as well which will make it difficult for any rescue operations to continue,” said meteorologist Mohammed Hanif on state television.
Eleven civilian employees of the military were buried under the snow along with the soldiers of the 6 Northern Light Infantry Battalion, the military said in a statement.
The army listed the names of the missing on its public relations website, from officers to waiters to barbers.