The German government supports the Pakistani government and is ready to extend its help to find the army officials and civilians trapped under the rubble at the Siachen glacier. This was stated by German Embassy’s First Secretary and Press and Culture Section Head Dr Thomas Ditt on Monday. He was briefing Pakistan Today about the assistance provided by the German government in tracing the 124 soldiers and 11 civilians trapped under the avalanche. A six-member German technical team remained at Siachen- the world’s toughest battle filed-for three days to assist the Pakistan military in its search and rescue operation.
“The German government sent a rescue team at the request of the Pakistani government. We are committed to supporting the people affected by natural disasters like the earthquake in Kashmir in 2005, the floods that Pakistan experienced last year and the Siachen incident,” he added. Meanwhile, a six-member team arrived in Islamabad on Monday after taking part in the rescue operation at Siachen. Sharing their experience, the team members said it was one of the biggest avalanches they have ever seen. Equipped with modern gadgets like wire cameras and voice detectors for hearing people trapped under the rubble, the team stayed for three-days at the Gayari Post while it took part in rescue activities. They said the bad weather is one of the major hurdles in the rescue operation. In response to a query, Florian Weber, a German rescue worker, said it was difficult to predict how much time the rescuers will take to pull out the people trapped under tonnes of snow, rocks and stone. Taking about their visit he said, “The rescue operation was a very difficult task for us and continues to be so for the people still working at the site. Our hearts are with those suffering because of this disaster,” Weber added. Apart from Weber, Bertam Bahr, Stephen Heinz, Andreas Schaal, Johannes Arnoldi and Thorsten Leisenberg visited the Siachen glacier to take part in the rescue operation..
