Two soldiers killed in Ladakh road accident

Two Indian Army soldiers, including the driver and co-driver of a heavy-duty military vehicle, were killed after their vehicle skidded off the road and plunged into a gorge near Namika La Pass on the Kargil-Leh National Highway in Ladakh on Wednesday. Police have registered a case and launched an investigation into the accident.

Leh:  Two soldiers were killed on Wednesday in a road accident in the Namika La Pass area on the Kargil-Leh National Highway.

Officials said two Indian Army personnel, the driver and co-driver, were killed when their heavy-duty military vehicle skidded off the road and plunged into a deep gorge near Namika La Pass on National Highway-01 (Kargil-Leh National Highway) in Ladakh.

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Officials said the accident occurred at approximately 1.30 pm near Namika La Pass in the Kargil-Leh sector.

Both soldiers on board died on the spot. Local police and rescue teams recovered the bodies and shifted them to the Community Health Centre (CHC) in Chiktan for medico-legal formalities and postmortem examinations.

“A case has been registered at Police Station Wakha under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), and an investigation into the cause of the accident is underway,” officials said.

Namika La Pass, also known as the ‘Pillar of the Sky Pass’, is a high mountain pass at 3,700 metres (12,139 feet) above sea level in the Zanskar Range of Ladakh.

It is situated along the Srinagar-Leh Highway (NH-1), roughly 105 km from Leh and 54 km from Kargil. It is one of two major high passes between Kargil and Leh, paired with the higher Fotu La Pass.

Translated locally, Namika La Pass is called the ‘Pillar of the Sky’.

Indian Army operates under some of the most extreme climatic and geographical conditions in the World. The army secures crucial front lines including the Line of Actual Control (LAC) facing China and the Line of Control (LoC) facing Pakistan.

Troops are deployed across high-altitude plains, deep valleys, and rugged mountain passes ranging from 3,000 metres to over 6,000 metres above sea level.

At Siachen Glacier, known as the World’s highest battlefield, soldiers hold positions at altitudes exceeding 5,400 metres (18,000 feet), where temperatures routinely plummet below -40°C.

In Eastern Ladakh & Pangong Tso, following heightened security requirements in recent years, the Army maintains significant forward deployments across the Ladakh plateau, including the shores of the strategic Pangong Lake and the Galwan Valley.